


The Crossroads of Destiny

by BisexualHeroes



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, F/F, F/M, Female Tommy Oliver, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2018-12-03 16:20:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11535924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BisexualHeroes/pseuds/BisexualHeroes
Summary: As heir to the Fire Nation throne, Kimberly Hart’s life wasn’t easy, but she could always rely on her best friend. However, when that same best friend becomes the Avatar, leaving her behind everything becomes a lot more complicated and dangerous than she thought. Especially when a certain earthbender by the name of Trini catches her heart and attention.





	1. A Dying Flame

Rain in the fire nation was never accepted with open arms. It ruined celebrations and caused the locals to run for their homes. But for six-year-old Kimberly Hart trudging through town trying to get away from her parents, it was the perfect escape route. You’d think that being the princess of the fire nation would have been the dream, but all Kim’s ever wanted was a loving family and a normal life. Her overbearing mother and the royal responsibilities were too much for a young child. Her father was the only one who made life enjoyable. 

 

Well, her father and her best friend, Jason, who she was currently trying to meet up with. Whenever Kimberly was feeling overwhelmed she always sent a messenger bird to him asking if they could meet up at their usual hangout. Jason and Kim first met in one of the parties her parents hosted for the wealthy families. Jason’s family was filled with largely respected firebenders so he was being taught to bend at a very young age. 

 

Kim stumbled on a rock as she turned the corner to their hangout spot. This super secret hiding place was actually just a little cave they found a little ways away behind the palace, but it was perfect for the two kids to escape to. She sees that Jason is already sitting there with his back against the wall trying to make a bonfire using his firebending.

 

“Hey Jace!” Jason looks up and smiles at Kim letting her see that two of his teeth are knocked out. “I still think it’s unfair that your parents let you start training early and I have to go to all these stupid parties.”

 

“That’s just because I’m better than you,” Jason chuckles. Kim punches him in the arm and sits down next to him. She pulls her legs up and rests her chin on her knees. Jason finally gets the fire going and let’s the silence hang in the air for a while before speaking up. “Are you okay?”

 

“No,” Kim whispers pulling her knees closer to her chest. “Mommy got really angry again. She says I have to ‘be a formal, proper lady’ and that I talk too much.” Kim rests her head on Jason’s shoulder. “I wish that I was your sister sometimes. Then I wouldn’t have a mean mommy.” 

 

“I can still be your brother! My mom says that blood doesn’t make family, so that means you can be my little sister,” Jason says excitedly. 

 

“Why am I the  _ little _ sister? We’re the same age,” she says and Jason rolls his eyes.

 

“I’m older by 4 months!” Kim laughs at Jason’s exclamation and repositions herself so that her head is resting on his lap. They stay like that for a while, just looking at the fire before Kim starts getting sleepy so she stands up.

 

“I have to go before she notices I left,” Kim says. Jason gets up as well and starts putting out the fire. “You’ll always be there for me right?”

 

“Of course.”

 

\----

 

Kim was fifteen years old now and Jason just turned sixteen. It’s been a week since Jason’s big birthday celebration. Coming from a wealthy family meant having a large festival in your name, but that didn’t really leave time for Jason to celebrate with Kim as they both had to keep their images up and talk with the right people. 

 

Right now the duo was walking through the market after buying some pink berries for the picnic they were gonna have later. Kim was wearing a bandana to disguise her face and Jason had a large hood on.  Jason was eating the berries  and they were joking around on who would be the better  Kuai ball player when they were interrupted by a group of men wearing hoods in a similar fashion to Jason. 

 

“You know, if you wanted to disguise yourself better with the locals, I’d suggestion wearing cheaper clothes,” one of the men says and Jason drops the pink berries in surprise. Kim snickers at his shock while Jason straightens up and recovers from his embarrassment. 

 

“Who are you,” Jason asks while moving to stand in between Kim and the strangers. They take off their hoods and Kim finally gets a good look at their faces.

 

“Wait I recognize these people. They conducted my cousin’s wedding,” Kim recalls. 

 

“Yes. My name is Shyu and we are the fire sages. We are responsible for managing coronations, weddings, and funerals for the royal family….among other things,” says one of them who Kim guesses is their leader. 

 

“Is that why you’re here? Has something gone wrong,” Jason questions. Both him and Kim start getting a little anxious.

 

Shyu hurriedly waves his hand and says, “No no no. Nothing is wrong. We are actually here for you.”

 

“Me!? What? I’m not a part of the royal family,” Jason says while visibly confused. The fire sage behind Shyu moved up to stand next to him.

 

“No you are not, but we have some news for you and your family. Would you join us in walking to your estate,” He clarifies. Jason starts moving forward before hesitating and turning to Kim who gives him a shrug.

 

He smirks and asks, “Are you gonna be alright without me?” Kim laughs and shakes her head.

 

“I’ll be fine you goof,” she says. “Go!”

 

Jason smiles at Kim before joining the fire sages, leaving her behind to look at the crushed berries on the ground. The pink trampled into a red stain on the road.

 

\-------

 

Kim hadn’t spoken to Jason in a week and it wasn’t for lack of trying. Anytime Kimberly visited he was never home and whenever they see each other Jason rushed out an excuse about something with his family or the fire sages. She started to get the message after the fourth “I need to take care of my sister.” 

 

She’s walking through the palace halls when she turns a corner and bumps into one of the guards.

 

“I’m so sorry Miss Hart,” he says. 

 

“Koda! I told you to call me Kim,” she laughs. 

 

“My apologies Miss Kimberly,” Koda says with a nod. “Are you heading to dinner?”

 

“Unfortunately,” Kim answers. The guard gives an understanding smile before continuing to his post.  Kim opens the door to the dining hall and mentally prepares herself for the evening. She lets out a sigh of relief at the sight of Ted, her father, already seated at the table. 

 

Kim never understood how her dad was always so busy as the general of the fire nation army when there was no war to fight. She always loves having him around because he’s so much nicer than her mom and he usually keeps her temper down whenever she’s about to go into one of her rampages.

 

Her mother is already seated at the end of the table with her father sitting next to her forcing Kim to sit on Rita’s other side. 

 

The waiters arrive with the food and Rita asks, “Hello Kimberly. Have you had a good day so far?”

 

“Mhhm,” she says having already stuffed her face with food in order to avoid conversation. (relatable) 

 

Ted notices her discomfort so he shifts the conversation. “How are things in the fire nation dear?”

 

“Everything is well,” Rita says after taking a bite of the roasted duck. “The news about the avatar has gotten everyone in a celebration,” she grumbles with a roll of her eyes. Kim picks her head up in interest. 

 

“I really don’t see what all the fuss is about. They reincarnate every year. I mean,” she says with a chuckle,  “it’s not like it’s a surprise.”

 

“Well the avatar is very important for maintaining the balance,” her father says. 

 

“What’s the point in keeping the balance anyways,” Rita utters. Ted lets out a deep sigh as if he’s dealt with this before and Kimberly furrows her eyebrows in confusion. 

 

She doesn’t know what that statement was supposed to mean so she instead she asks, “Who is the new avatar?” 

 

Her father repeats Kim’s early expression of confusion as he sets his fork down. Her parents share a glance before looking back at her.

 

Rita asks in disbelief, “You don’t know? Surely he would’ve told you by now.” 

 

“What? I don’t know who it is. That’s why I asked,” says Kim. 

 

“Honey,” Tedd says, “the avatar is Jason Scott.” 

  
  


\-------

  
  


“When were you going to tell me?”

 

Kim was standing outside the same cave from their childhood staring at Jason who was inside. He seemed to have been sitting there for a while contemplating before being startled by Kim’s sudden appearance. 

 

She didn’t yell at him. She’s more sad than angry and the look of hurt on her face has Jason regretting his decisions a hundred times more than he already had. He walks up to her hoping to apologize.

 

“I was going to-” he tries to say before being interrupted by Kim.

 

“What? You were going to tell me!? What the fuck Jason,” she yells while giving him a shove. “Why keep this from me? We’re best friends and you disappear for a week. You ignored me every time I went to talk to you. It would’ve been easier if you just told me the truth instead of leaving me to wonder what the hell I did wrong.  What’s the big deal?”

 

“I have to leave,” he mumbles with his head down. It was quiet but loud enough for Kim to pick up on it and stop her screaming. “The avatar needs to go through training and that requires finding masters on the other elements so I have to leave.” 

 

He picks his head up to look Kim in the eyes and she finally sees that he’s crying. 

 

“I was going to tell you but I didn’t want to say goodbye and I thought it would be easier to put distance between us before I left so it wouldn’t hurt as much,” he says. “I’m so sorry Kim.”

 

She feels sorry for him for a while. They stand there for a bit while Jason silently pleads for forgiveness before she rubs the tears from her eyes and looks away. 

 

Kim asks, “When are you leaving?”

 

“Tomorrow,” he whispers. All sadness that Kim was feeling disappears and is replaced with rage.

 

“You should’ve told me from the beginning,” she says getting angrier as she says each word. “You’re a selfish asshole” she yells as she burns a patch of grass in outrage. Jason flinches even though the fire struck a few feet away. 

 

“Hope you have fun on your world trip,” she mocks. “Heard the fruit pies from the air temples are to die for.” 

 

She walks away and Jason goes back to sitting down in the cave like before.

  
  


\-------

  
  


Her father dies a week later. 

 

The days in between his death and the funeral went by fast. Kim thinks there were too many people there. All of them were aristocrats or generals who didn’t know him at all. Kim wasn’t able to give a eulogy so one of the generals did one instead. The fire sages were there as they’re supposed to be, but they only reminded Kim of another person’s she’s lost. 

 

They’re lowering him to the ground when Kim looks up to see the disinterest in most people’s faces. Jason was gone, her father was dead, she didn’t know half the people in his funeral, and her mother was too much in grief to show up. It was all too much for Kim so she ran away.

 

Kim feels the mud as stone paths turn to dirt and that’s when she finally notices that it’s raining. She stumbles a little when she accidentally hits a branch that she was usually to short to hit when she ran this path as a child. 

 

She sits at the end of the cave. Enough to protect herself from the rain but still be able to reach out and touch it. She lets the drops hit her hand and is reminded of how her dad who would always play Pai Sho with her when they couldn’t go out and how when they were on vacation in Ember Island she got so upset because it was raining half the time it was there but her father never failed to make her smile.

 

The rain comes to a stop as the sky clears, and she turns her attention to a singed patch of grass near the cave. 

 

_ “You’ll always be there for me right?” _

 

_ “Of course.” _

  
  


\-------

  
  
  


Jason laughs as his trainer misses another shot directed towards him. They’re in the middle of what Jason hopes to be the last day of firebending training. He’s eager to move onto the next element and actually do some avatar-ing, instead of what he’s been doing since he was a little kid. Their match comes to an end when Shyu waves the firebending master way. 

 

“You have excelled in firebending, Jason. You already demonstrated amazing abilities in your younger years, but now we can officially say you have become a firebending master at the age of sixteen,” Shyu says. Jason has a huge smile on his face as he runs over to hug him. Shyu is surprised at the contact but returns it nonetheless displaying his own smile. 

 

He knows it’s been hard for Jason since they separated him from his family, so he tries to be more friendly towards the boy whenever possible. They have had to travel south of the fire nation in order to find Jason a proper teacher.

 

“I think it is time to move onto the next step in becoming the avatar,” he says while removing himself from the hug . Jason looks up with an excited look on his face. 

 

“Does this mean what I think it means,” Jason asks.

 

“Yes,” says Shyu. “Pack your bags because we’re heading to the Southern Air Temple!”

 

Jason lets out a whoop as he fist bumps the air with a jump. Shyu laughs at the boy’s excitement before motioning him to follow so they can head back inside. 

  
  


\-------

  
  


Kim swipes the sweat forming on her forehead before dodging the next strike. She nearly gets hit as her exhaustion catches up to her. Her shirt was discarded an hour into this 4 hour long session that she’s been having daily. She punches out another series of fire strikes getting sloppier with each punch. 

 

She tries to dodge another attack but is too late this time and is sent flying backwards. Colliding with a wall causes Kim’s vision to go blurry. She barely hears her mother’s scoldings before she blacks out. 

 

Her mother is standing over her when she regains consciousness and she hasn’t been moved from where she passed out. For a second she thinks she sees Jason but it’s just the firebending teacher who’s meditating in the corner of the room. 

 

“You are too slow,” Rita says. “You need to sharpen your punches and be lighter on your feet.”

 

Kim groans as she slowly sits up. “I’m exhausted mother. It’s been hours and I haven’t had anything to eat.”

 

“Get up from the floor. You’ll train for another hour,” she says while helping Kim up. “I think your master said something about introducing lightning.”

 

“Lightning!? I can barely bend regular fire at the moment,” Kim grumbles. 

 

“I don’t care if you don’t have any arms or you’re actually a lemur in disguise. Your master is going to bend lightning at you and it is up to you to decide if you’re going to defend yourself,” Rita says before walking off to sit on a chair next to the right wall in the middle of the room. 

 

Master Trent Mercer rises up from his meditation session and goes to stand opposite of Kim. She cracks her neck and nods towards Trent indicating she’s ready.

 

“I will teach you how to redirect lightning and then I will teach you how to generate it yourself,” Trent explains. “To redirect lightning you must create a pathway from your fingertip, up the arm, to the stomach, and up and out the other arm. The lightning must pass through the stomach so that it doesn’t damage the heart.”

 

“No pressure,” Kim laughs. Trent quirks an eyebrow but gets into position.

 

“Are you ready?” He asks.

 

“All fired up and ready to go...Get it?” She says and Trent shakes his head. “Because I’m a firebender?”

 

“You can die doing this, Kimberly. I suggest you take this more seriously,” he says.

 

“Right,” Kim says emphasising the t. The situation dissolves light hearted joking manner when she sees Trent charging up his lightning strike. She takes a deep breath and does her best to focus on the situation. 

 

He fires at her and Kimberly feels the lightning surging through her body. She feels powerful yet terrified knowing that one wrong move could kill her. Kim holds onto the lightning for too long and the pain starts building up in her stomach before she successfully directs the lightning strike to the left wall. 

 

She would’ve slumped to the ground if Trent didn’t run over to catch her. 

 

“The redirection has drained her energy,” he says to Rita. “I think we should let her rest.” Kim groans as she slips from Trent’s grasps and lands on her knees.

 

“She had enough rest in her coma. Do it again,” her mother snarls. She stares Kim in the eyes and Kim knows what happens when she disobeys that stare, so she quickly gets up from the ground in fear and mumbles an “I’m fine” to Trent. 

 

He still seems worried because of the dazed look in her eyes but she seems stable enough. He wasn’t supposed to speak out in the first place so he shouldn’t defy the firelord anymore. They get into their respective positions and Trent launches some more lightning at Kim. 

 

Kim wants to get rid of the lightning as soon as possible due to the intense pain she endured last time. She quickly shoots it out the other arm but she was so worried about getting rid of it that she doesn’t put much attention into controlling where it goes.

 

The lightning is redirected straight at its original caster. Trent was not expecting Kim to have gotten the hang of the technique so quickly so he isn’t able to dodge the shock and it lands directly on his heart. 

 

A scream rattles throughout the training room. A guard is already next to the body checking the pulse. Kim hasn't moved from her spot. Her hand over her mouth and the only change in movement is when a sob racks through her body after the guard announces that he’s dead.

 

She falls to the ground crying, not being able to make her way over to her friend. Her mother is calmly ordering guards to remove the body. Kim’s in her head yelling at herself for her  stupidity .  _ I killed him. I met his family last week and now they’re carrying him out in a bag. How am I supposed to face his children knowing that I shot lightning at his heart.  _

 

_ He’s gone. _

 

_ Why does everyone I care about leave? _

 

Someone tries to comfort her but she flinches from the contact, gets up, and runs out the room.

  
  


\-------

  
  


A door slams shut and Jason’s clammering down the steps away from the temporary training center. Various grumblings and swears escape his mouth as he ignores the yells of the monks inside. They arrived at the southern air temple weeks ago but Jason hasn’t demonstrated any ability to airbend. 

 

_ “Maybe you got the wrong guy,” Jason says. “Maybe I’m not the avatar.” _

 

_ “No, you are definitely the avatar. It is normal to have difficulties with other elements at first,” one of the monks training him says. _

 

_ Jason lets out a frustrated groan. “For two weeks without any signs!?” _

 

_ The monk’s eyes wander and Jason takes that as all the confirmation he needs.  _

 

He’s been wandering around the temple lost in his thoughts before stumbling across a courtyard with an airball field towards the back. A bunch of kids are in the middle of a practice match but Jason notices a boy around his age who’s sitting on the ground quite far from the field just blowing a leaf up and down.

 

He approaches him as quietly as possible, not wanting to startle him. He sits cross-legged across from him which startles the airbender a little, but he manages to grab his leaf before it flies away. Jason goes to speak but his brain short circuits when notices how cute this guy is.

 

“Uh hello,” the boys says with a tilt of his head.  _ Crap _ . He’s been staring.

 

“Um, hi,” Jason says ands rubs the back of his head. (this poor gay mess) “I was just wondering why you weren’t playing with the others.”

 

“Oh, they don’t really like playing with me,” he says causing Jason to frown. “ I get a little too excited sometimes. The monk Tang Xu, my master, thinks I’m not that good of an airbender because you’re supposed to be calm when airbending. I scared the other kids one time because one of my air blasts was too powerful and knocked him out of the tower.”

 

Jason’s eyes widen and the airbender quickly waves his hand in defense. “It was okay though. He softened the blow with air bending so no one was hurt. I felt really bad even though he said it was okay because I didn’t do it on purpose. The other nomads don’t really understand that though.”

 

“What do you do to help you bend?” Jason asks.

 

“Well...this,” he says and holds up the leaf he was bending with earlier. “Airbending has a lot to do with flexibility and it’s the most defensive of all the elements, but it also requires a calm state of mind. I use the leaf to force me to control my strength. But you’re the avatar so strength’s not really your problem-”

 

“Wait, how do you know I’m the avatar?” Jason interrupts his spiel. He gives him a confused look.

 

“Why else would you be asking me that question or sitting next to me? An airbender would be joining the others,” he says while nodding in the direction of the airball match. “Plus, you look uncomfortable in our clothing. I recommend getting a size larger because you firebenders tend to like baggy pant-legs.”

 

“Uh thanks,” Jason says. “So what do you recommend for airbending? I haven’t been able to do it, since I got here.”

 

“It makes sense you would have a harder time considering you’re a native firebender and that focuses more on aggression and harsh moments as opposed to airbending’s evasive and fluid movements. You just have to find your peace of mind. Meditating is what my master would instruct,” he says. 

 

“What do you do instead of meditating?”

 

“I think of my dad,” he says. Jason notes the mood shift so he refrains from asking more questions.

 

““Thank you. I’ll try something similar to that,” Jason says while standing up and is about to walk away before he stops himself. “I never got your name?”

 

“Oh!” The airbender stands up. He rubs his hands on his robe before extending his hand. “My name’s Billy. Billy Cranston.”

 

Jason shakes his hand with a smile and says, “I’m Jason Scott.”

  
  


\-------

  
  


In Jason’s next training session he tries to keep a level head. However, it was going just as usual. After meditating for hours, they have Jason stand there to receive a beating of airbending, hoping that one of these attacks will be the one to set things off.

 

When things aren’t working out he decides to try out Billy’s method of thinking about someone.  He thinks about Kim and him laying down in their cave and talking about people they find cute. The fire crackling and Kim’s laughter vibrating in the walls. He thinks of Billy sitting and smiling whenever he successfully keeps the leaf afloat. The crinkle he would get on his forehead whenever he was confused and the little smile he displayed when he was talking with Jason.

 

He’s in such a blissful state that he almost doesn’t notice that he manages to block and return an airbending attack. There’s several gasps throughout the room, while Jason just stands there staring at his hand in shock. He looks over to Shyu on the side of the room who’s sporting a similar expression.

 

“Did I just-” Jason says.

 

“Yup.”

 

He’s running out of the room grinning before anyone can stop him. People are giving him weird looks as he sprints through the temple but he couldn’t care less. Jason finally spots Billy sitting down eating his lunch and halts to a stop. Billy almost drops his food at the sudden appearance. 

 

“Billy you’re a genius!” Jason yells swooping him into a hug. 

 

“Thank you?” He says in confusion. “Can you stop touching me now?”

  
  


\-------

  
  


Normally, lightning generation requires circular motions to perform. Kim is able to generate lightning with very minimal movement. She is also able to bend it at much faster speeds than would usually be required for a skill so complex. Shocking both her instructors and her mother, she mastered the new technique in merely a week once she was able to get back into it. 

 

Rita’s constant insistence on training is what confused Kimberly. She knew those of the royal family were always highly trained but never at such a fast and rigarious pace. So when there’s a sudden influx of fire nation generals in the palace she decides to find out what’s happening. 

 

They’re all currently inside the meeting room with Rita. She creaks the door open just enough to hear what they’re saying.

 

“We need more reinforcements if we’re going to go through with this,” one of the guys with a really large mustache says. 

 

“That plan is going to take too long to begin. We need to start now while the earth kingdom is weak,” another man commands. Kim recognizes him as the one who took her father’s place.

 

“He’s right. Their queen is failing to control their outer reaches and small villages. She seems concerned only for Ba Sing Se,” someone says.

 

_ Is this what I think it means? _

 

“Firelord Rita,” her father’s replacement says. “I suggest starting small attacks on failing earth kingdom villages. We’ll get a head start in conquering the earth kingdom and we’ll have more of an advantage with control around their main cities. We can also start on the southern air temple as it’s the closest one.”

 

“Yeah,” mustache man says with a chuckle. “Those airbenders are useless in a fight.”

 

“Very well Goldar,” Rita interrupts the laughter in the room. “We’ll go through with your suggestion starting next week. You are all dismissed.”

 

The shock of what she just learned made Kim almost forget that she had to run if she didn’t want to get discovered. She’s able to make it to her room without alerting anyone, but the sound of her loud sobs alerted Koda who was standing guard, who she quickly sends away.

 

She didn’t understand how her mother could go through with this. Rita had done many things wrong in her life but attacking millions of innocent people for more power was something that she never saw coming. She has friends in other kingdoms. How are all the fire nation officials in that room agreeing to this?

 

It’s been about half an hour when Kim decides to head back to the meeting room. The determination in her steps and anger in her eyes had the guards cowering. The doors to the room slam open and her mother is still sitting down writing in her journal. A map is in front of her with a dagger planted on Ba Sing Se. 

 

“Is this why you’ve been training me?!”

 

Her mother slowly closes her notebook and looks up to her as if she’s just an irritation.

 

“You’re going to kill innocent lives and for what?” Kim yells. “I am never going to go through with this.” 

 

Rita gets up from her seat in an instant and has Kim pinned to the wall with the dagger at her daughter’s throat. Kim’s heart rate dramatically increases as old memories start resurfacing from her childhood. All the times she had to hide scars and the panic that she would experience after behaving out of line. 

 

“You are going to go through with this,” Rita says. “Unless you want the same experience you gave poor little Trent.” Kim eye’s go dark at the comment.

 

“I don’t care what you do to me, you’ve already done your worst,” Kim says through gritted teeth, the blade getting a little too close to her neck.

 

“Is that what you think,” Rita chuckles. “You don’t know the half of it... You, my daughter, are a vital step in this plan,” She says twirling a piece of Kim’s hair.

 

“If you don’t go through with it, I’ll make sure to kill all your friends, one by one.”

 

Kim closes her eyes not seeing much of an option and nods her head carefully. The blade is removed and Rita shoves herself away from Kim. 

 

“Together we are going to conquer the world,” Rita says handing her the dagger which she grabs hesitantly. 

 

“Who do you want me to murder mother?” Kim hisses.

 

Rita stares at her daughter for a moment. There’s a long pause before she speaks.

 

“The avatar.”

 

All that is heard is the clang of the dagger after it slips from Kimberly’s hand. 


	2. Broken Balance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELCOME BACK TO THIS FIC! HOPE YOU'RE READY FOR ANGST!!!

After finishing training for the day, Jason knocks on the door leading to Billy’s quarters. He hears a “come in!” from inside so he opens the door. Billy has a lot of odds and ends stuffed into his quarters along with a whole wall full of books. Some of them Jason remembers seeing at his school in the fire nation and when previously questioning the airbender, he learned that he’s stocked up on history and literature from all the kingdoms. 

 

“Hey Jason!” Billy yells. “I’m in the kitchen preparing for your training.” 

 

“My training?” Jason asks as he walks into the kitchen. Billy is hastily pulling things out of cabinets wearing a light blue apron and only stops frantically moving when he sees a very confused Jason standing in the doorway. 

 

He smiles while grabbing a red apron and hands it to Jason before saying, “Yeah! You said you wanted me to help you better understand the different kingdoms so you could be the best avatar, and I thought we could start with the air kingdom since that’s where we are, and one of the highlights of the air temples is fruit pies!” He gestures excitedly to all the ingredients he has out on the counter. 

 

Jason grins and puts on the apron. “Alright. Let’s do this,” he says and Billy does a series of little claps before grabbing the flour.

  
  


\-------

  
  


Jason sets the fruit pie on the counter. It took a couple tries but he was finally able to make one that looks edible, and Billy’s thumbs up of approval is a hundred times more satisfying than the avatar trainers’ grunts of acknowledgment. Jason thinks that he’s never felt happier, but then... everything changes when the fire nation attacks. 

 

The first indication, is the ground shaking causing several items to fall from the counter. Billy and Jason look at each other in bewilderment and as Jason is about to open his mouth, the second indication comes; an explosion followed by piercing screams. That’s all Jason needs to spring into action. The boys discard their aprons and head out the door. Billy makes sure that he grabs his staff. 

 

They sprint in the direction of the screams which leads them to the outer edges of the air temple. From the tall walkway they’re standing on, Jason can clearly see that Fire Nation ships have landed and its troops are attacking the airbenders. For a while, he’s not able to stop looking down at all the destruction.

 

_ Why would my home attack the airbenders? Where is my dad? He would’ve said something to me if he knew about this. _ He looks over at Billy, both of them with tears in their eyes.

 

“Come on,” Billy says while spinning his staff to reveal a glider. “We gotta help them.” 

 

Jason nods and grabs onto Billy so he can glide them down to the action. Using his newfound airbending abilities, Jason lets go of Billy as soon as they’re closer to the ground and softens his landing with a gust of wind. Billy continues gliding and barrels into a soldier a couple feet away while Jason does a swift fire kick at the two fighters in front of him. 

 

To the right of them, a fire nation troop is surrounding some of the monks in the temple and the boys are about to make their way over to them when Shyu lands in the middle of them. 

 

“Get down!” He yells at the monks before doing a circular, fire attack that wipes out all the fire nation soldiers. Jason makes an impressed face before going out to find someone else in need. They’re doing a good job at fending them off one by one but things get more complicated when they’ve reached the edge and two whole ships of fire nation troops have just touched ground. 

 

“There’s no way we can take them on by ourselves,” Jason says analyzing how many people they’re gonna need as backup. There’s around a hundred of them, marching towards the nomads. “I’ll go get Shyu and some of the other-” Jason realizes that he’s talking to himself as Billy is already making his way towards the small army.

 

“Billy!?” Jason loudly whispers, not wanting to get the attention of the hundred soldiers. “Billy! What are you doing???” 

 

But Billy seems to be in his own world right now so Jason just lets out an exasperated sigh before half-jogging to catch up with him, because if Billy is determined on getting himself killed then Jason needs to be there to help him. Billy finally stops walking and motions for Jason to stay here which he nods at hesitantly. 

 

To Jason and the fire nation soldiers’ surprise, Billy calmly walks over to the troops. They’re so shocked at the approach of this one boy, that it gives Billy enough time to get into a fighting stance and start winding up the staff as if it were a bat. He takes a deep breath and before the soldiers can even process what’s happening he swings his staff forming a large wave of wind that pushes almost all of them off the island. 

 

“Holy shit,” Jason says. He feels like such an idiot for thinking that Billy needs protection when the kid just yeeted 90 fire nation troops with a single swoop. He runs over to help but by the time he gets there Billy has already dealt with the remaining men. 

 

Jason laughs and repeats his earlier statement, “There’s no way we can take them on by ourselves, huh?”

 

“But I just did?” Billy says, clearly not understanding the joke. 

 

Their lighthearted conversation comes to a stop when they realize that those two ships weren’t the last of the invasion. On the horizon is a large fleet of fire nation ships. 

 

\-------

  
  


The airbenders were extremely overwhelmed at first since they were all separated but once Jason gathered everyone together and started taking command they were able to turn the tide of the fight.  

 

Standing on top of the large, flat roof of the living quarters, Jason punches out a series of fire bursts bringing down a fire nation soldier. Surrounded by bodies and covered in sweat from how long this invasion has been going on, he takes out the last of the large troop with the help of one of the airbending monks. Jason’s entire body feels sore and he knows that he’s burning out. The good thing is that the amount of fire nation army is diminishing so it’ll be over soon.

 

Or so he thinks. 

 

Just as Jason starts heading over to discuss more tactics with an airbender, he hears someone land with a thud behind Jason and a blast of fire strikes kills the nomad. He yells and wants to run to his corpse but he knows he’s in danger so he turns around expecting another random fire nation soldier. What he doesn’t expect is his childhood best friend to be standing ten feet away from him with a lightning attack ready to be fired at his heart. 

 

“Kim?” He says, the hurt clear in his voice. He knows that he hurt her, but he didn’t think Kim was capable of this and the tear that escapes her eye further confirms his thoughts. “What are-” He starts to ask but the charge gets more intense and he has to dash to the side to avoid the lightning. 

 

Jason barely has time to process what’s happening before Kim start firing at him again. He’s able to deflect or dodge most of the attacks, but one of her attacks scorches his right leg. He refuses to attack back, still not believing that his best friend is attacking him. 

 

“Kim!” Jason yells, “Why are you doing this!?”

 

“ Because I have to,” she says while clenching her jaw. She tries punching fire at him again and this time Jason’s too sloppy in dodging it. His exhaustion is catching up to him and that combined with his burned leg, Kim is able to kick his feet, sending him to the ground. 

 

Jason lays on the ground with his knees up and uses his elbows to prop himself up as he says, “Kimberly, please.” 

 

Kim stands right in front of him with her arms extended, ready to kill.

 

“Please,” Jason says choking back a sob. “I’m so sorry, Kim.” 

 

“I don’t want to kill you,” she says. Jason looks more confused and goes to say something when Kim speaks up again, “But I have to.”

 

Jason sees the flicker start in her hand, the lighting causing the hair on his arm to stand up. 

 

“I don’t understand,” he says. “Please don’t do this.” 

 

“Shut up,” she murmurs, barely audible. He sees her steel gaze cracking and the slight shake of her hand. 

 

“Why are you doing this?” Jason says.

 

“Shut up! Stop making this so difficult for me,” Kim yells with tears streaming down her face. 

 

Jason raises his hands in a final attempt at begging for mercy. He says, “I don’t understand. I-”

 

Kim interrupts him with a shot of lightning causing Jason to flinch and put his hands over his face. He cowers on the ground for a while before realizing that he isn’t dead. When he lowers his hands, Kim is nowhere to be seen and next to him on the ground is scorch marks left from the lightning. 

  
  


\-------

  
  


“You did what?” Rita yells. Kim flinches at the sound and hopes her mother doesn’t see from where she sits on the throne. 

 

“I failed to kill the avatar,” she repeats, head still bowed down.

 

“Bullshit,” Rita snaps, causing Kim to look up. “You failed to kill Jason. Not the avatar. I trained you to be able to defeat the avatar, but my coward of a daughter couldn’t finish the job.”

 

“A job?!” Kim scoffs. “You sent me out to murder my best friend!”

 

Rita rises from her seat and yells, “You dare and speak to your firelord like that?”

 

“I’m sorry mother,” Kim says with widened eyes realizing her mistake. 

 

“Enough,” she seethes, she snaps her fingers at the guards causing them all to leave the throne room. “You failed to obey the queen’s orders. Seems like I have to teach you a lesson.” 

 

Kimberly doesn’t even have time to question before her mother is attacking her. Kim deflects the first attacks easily enough. She’s hesitant in fighting back and runs behind one of the pillars that line up in this throne room. 

 

“Your best friend, huh?” Rita asks, inching towards the pillar. “What kind of friend keeps a secret like being the avatar from you and then ignores you for a week.” As she said the last word, she turns the corner and tries to slice at Kim with a fire dagger. Kim moves out of the way but Rita’s attacks are driving her into the corner of the room. Having no room to dodge, the next attack hits her face and causes her to fall to her knees in pain. 

 

Kim screams and clutches her face. The skin around her left eye searing in pain and forcing her eye shut. Rita grabs her from the collar of her shirt, and pushes her burning face into the wall guaranteeing another scream from Kim. Rita makes sure to keep the pressure on the back of her head.

 

“You’re going to go after the avatar again,” Rita says, “and this time you won’t fail.” When Kim doesn’t respond she leans in and whispers in her ear, “Do you understand?”

 

“Yes,” she says through gritted teeth. Rita finally releases her hold on Kim who immediately covers her face again. She backs away slowly, expecting another comment but all her mother does is turn around, head back to her throne, and signal the guards back inside. 

 

The walk back towards her room lasts ages. Her face is still aching as if it had just been struck, the terror of having to face Jason again, or the idea of not being able to on her mind. The vision in her left eye is blurry and twitches whenever she opens it. The only thing lessening her pain are her tears rolling onto the burn.  

 

When she does get to her room Koda is standing guard outside. He rushes to her side asking what happened but all Kim can do is let him envelop her into a hug and sob while he calls for a doctor. 

  
  


\-------

  
  


Even with the help of the best waterbending healers in the world, the burn on Kim’s face still remains a pink to red color around her left eye. The doctors gave her some bandages but they’re less for healing and more for covering up the abnormality, since it’s already healed as much as it can. 

 

It’s the middle of the night and Kim’s wide awake. Playing with the dagger Rita gave her, she sits on a rock next to a river near her and Jason’s cave. She thinks of her mother’s plan to conquer the world and shudders at the thought of what Rita would do if she failed again. Kim knows she won’t be able to bring herself to do it, and considers running away but quickly discards the idea when she remembers all the friends she has in the city that she needs to protect.

 

Yet, it’s that handful of lives compared to the millions who would die if she killed Jason. She doesn’t want to doom anyone’s fate, but Jason is the avatar and he’s the only chance this world has at returning back to normal. After making up her mind, she stops flipping the dagger and touches the bandages on her face. Her mother needs to be stopped and she won’t be able to do it alone. After staring at her reflection in the water, she grabs her hair and uses the dagger cut it off.  

 

Kim runs as fast as she can to the back of the palace. She’s supposed to leave tomorrow morning for another attack on the southern air temple, so she has limited time to get everything done and make it back in time before the second invasion. The steps up to the den take a while to climb, but once she makes it to the top she’s able to see who she came for. 

 

“Hey buddy,” Kim sighs and puts her hand on his scaly back. It raises its head at the sight of a friend. “You taking a nap?”

 

It huffs some smoke out of its nose in response and goes back to resting his head. His wings flap a bit before curling up at his side, and he closes his yellow eyes. 

 

“Come on Alpha,” she says, playing with his massive collar. The number five was designed onto the red and gold emblem, indicating him as the fifth and last dragon in their possession. Everyone else calls the dragons by their numbers but Kim has always given them names. Alpha got his name because he was always the one the other dragon whelps followed. 

 

“You’ve got to help me. We’re gonna help my friends escape the city, and then we’re going to help Jason,” Kim says. 

 

The dragon finally opens its eyes to look at Kim and stands up. He nudges his nose into her hand causing her to smile. Kim climbs onto Alpha’s back, takes one last look at the palace, and then takes off. 

  
  


\-------

  
  


When Jason was helping the the temple recover from the attack, they discovered plans for a second attack from an unfinished note on a general’s body. Putting together a defense plan they are slightly more prepared for when the next wave of fire nation soldiers come. Billy and Jason are waiting at their posts for the impending attack, when Billy notices his nerves. 

 

“Hey, it’s gonna be alright! You came up with a really good defensive plan and we were able to fend them off last time without one,” Billy praises. 

 

Jason smiles and looks down. “Thanks Billy, but it’s not the soldiers that I’m worried about,” he says and looks towards Billy who nods in understanding. 

 

“Kim,” Billy confirms. A crinkle appears in his forehead when he asks, “I know you said she was your friend, but you speak very highly of her. Are you sure that’s all there is?”

 

Jason seems appalled at the statement. “No no,” he says quickly, “Kim is like a little sister to me.” His expression saddens. “I hope she’s okay, she seemed like she was being forced to kill me.”

 

Billy opens his mouth to say something else but gets distracted when the warning sound blares throughout the temple indicating that the fire nation has arrived. He starts walking away but is stopped when Jason grabs his arm. 

 

“I’m really glad I met you Billy,” he says. “I think we make a pretty good team. These guys don’t stand a chance.” Jason winks at him earning a laugh from the airbender. Billy gives him a final wave before they make their separate ways. 

  
  


\-------

  
  


Billy was right and they mostly have an easy time at keeping the fire benders at bay. That is until Jason gets a little too confident and gets himself surrounded in the middle of an open field with no cover.  He’s yelling for Billy to help him, but he’s too far away and wouldn’t get there in time. Jason’s starting to regret his careless actions, until he hears a large gust of wind. 

 

Turning to the noise, he’s confronted with an immense fire capable of destroying all the soldiers along with him. He braces himself for the impact, but it never comes. When Jason finally opens his eyes, he notices that all the soldiers are dead, but he almost screams at the sight of a dragon landing in front of him. What surprises him even more is the sight of Kimberly Hart on top of that dragon. 

 

He notices the bandages covering a quarter of her face and the shake in her hands as she holds the rein, so when Kim climbs down and starts walking over to apologize he interrupts her with a hug. She’s crying into his shoulder and mumbling apologies but Jason is just glad she’s alive. 

 

“Are you okay,” he asks and pulls away to look at her. “Was it Rita who forced you?” 

 

The look of surprise on Kim’s face almost makes Jason chuckle. “Kim you’re one of the kindest people I’m lucky to call my friend. I know you wouldn’t kill anyone you cared about unless you were being forced.” 

 

“Yeah it was,” Kim says with a weak smile. 

 

“Did she do this,” he asks pointing to the bandages. Kim nods and he asks, “Can I see it?” 

 

At this question, she steps back and quickly shakes her head no. Jason immediately regrets asking and is wondering what happened when Billy finally makes their way towards them with news of the battle drawing to an end. When he sees Kim he greets her with a wave.

 

“You must be Kimberly,” Billy says. When she nods he says, “Hi, I’m Billy. Jason’s friend.”

 

Kim notices the dejected look on Jason’s face at the word friend, so when he glances at her she smirks at him and raises an eyebrow before turning back to Billy and saying hello. 

 

“So you ran away,” Jason says while looking at Alpha, “and stole a dragon.”

 

Kim chuckles at the comment. “I never wanted to hurt you. Rita said she would kill all of our friends at home, so I took Alpha and fled them to a secure location before coming here to help you,” she says. “I eavesdropped one of their meetings and  they seem to be targeting the air temples and small earth kingdom villages. Probably because they are the easiest targets-”

 

“Umm...”

 

“No offense Billy,” Kim says.

 

“We should bring this information to the fire sages,” Jason says. “I need to help these people.”

  
  


\-------

  
  


“Absolutely not.” 

 

Standing in the middle of the monk hall with all the air nomad leaders sitting on their pedestals, Jason clenches his fist and looks towards Shyu who also looks unhappy at the current situation. The Great Sage, Yeh-Lu who is currently denying Jason’s request, stands with Shyu and the rest, next to the air nomad’s elders council.

 

Master Gyatso, a member of the elders council, speaks next, “I think it is best if Jason goes to aid the fight against the fire nation. If it were not for him this temple and its people could’ve been destroyed.”

 

“No. He is nowhere near to completing his training. He is not ready,” says Yeh-Lu.

 

“It doesn’t matter if I’m ready or not. My duty as avatar is to keep the balance to the world. I can not do that if I stay here,” Jason argues. “I can continue my training on the road. Billy can help me finish my airbending training.”

 

One of the members of the elder’s councils scoffs. “That boy is not an airbending master.”

 

“That boy,” Jason mocks, “helped me more in this invasion than most of the supposed masters.” 

 

This earns him some scowls from the counsel causing Jason to think that maybe insulting them wasn’t the right way to go. Gyatso, at least, seems very amused at the situation.

 

Nevertheless, Jason continues speaking. “He could be the best, yet you refuse to let him live up to his full potential... I can help people and still master the elements at the same time.”

 

“The fire nation is only attacking small villages in the earth kingdom with small casualties. You need to stay here and complete your training for the bigger battles down the road. We don’t know what Firelord Rita is planning,” Yeh-Lu says.

 

“Yeh-Lu is right young one,” says an elder council member. “You are of more use to us alive later in the road than dead now due to these reckless ambitions.”

 

“A death is still a death and if I can prevent it I will. I will not... I can not sit here when I could be out there helping,” Jason says getting increasingly frustrated.  

 

“No you will not,” says Yeh-Lu. “I forbid you from going on this ridiculous quest.”

 

Jason’s hands are burning up from anger and he looks up towards Shyu for some support since he’s remained silent during this argument, but Shyu just gives him a grim nod. Disgusted with the final decision and with no support from the sensible adults, Jason turns around and stomps out of the hall. 

 

When he bursts the doors open he’s greeted by his friends sporting sheepish smiles which means they were probably listening in. Jason slumps to the ground and both Kim and Billy go to comfort him causing an awkward moment as they were both about to reach for him. Billy lets Kim comfort him first so she sits down next to Jason, moves his head on to her lap, and then pats the ground next to her for Billy to sit. 

 

“This is unfair,” Jason mumbles. Billy just says yeah while Kim hums in agreement.

 

“I should be able to help,” he says.

 

“You should,” Kim says. She already has an idea on what they should do next but she’s gonna let the fearless leader figure it out first. They sit there for a while with Kim playing with Jason’s hair and Billy trying to cheer Jason up.

 

Without much else to say Billy asks, “Do you wanna have a sleepover? My house is a lot more comfortable than the temporary training center.”

 

Jason seems to consider it for a moment before finally deciding to say no. It’s not that he doesn’t want to be with Billy. He’s just too upset at the moment and doesn’t want to bother him. 

 

“Oh okay,” Billy says. “We’re still gonna see each other tomorrow for training right?”

 

“Of course!”

  
  
  


\-------

  
  
  


Billy was right. The cot Jason is currently laying on is about as comfortable as the floor. Actually, maybe the floor is more comfortable. Jason flops off the cot, face first onto the wooden floor. The floor smells like sweat and he thinks he sees a pee stain next to his head. This was a bad decision but Jason is too miserable and lazy to get up so he just turns over and stares at the ceiling. 

 

He can’t believe the fire sages won’t let him go out and help the earth kingdom villages under attack. Shyu didn’t even try to help him. People still need help, even if he hasn’t mastered all the elements. If he can’t get the support of the elder’s council and the fire sages, then he’s just gonna have to do it himself.

 

Making up his mind, Jason gets off the floor with a swift flip onto his feet. He grabs his bag and rushes out the door in the direction of Billy’s house. He only has to knock on the door once and Billy’s already opening the door. 

 

“We gotta go,” Jason says.

 

“I already packed.”

 

“What!?”

 

“I was actually about to head over to you and try to convince you.”

 

“Oh,” Jason says. “Well that was easy.”

 

Billy invites him in as he makes some last minute additions to his luggage.

 

“The Fire Sages are idiots if they think it’s best for you to stay here,” Billy says shoving an extra robe into his sack. Once his bag is set he turns and heads out the door. Jason is so shocked by the fact that this is the most upset he’s ever seen Billy that it takes him a couple seconds before he springs into action.

 

When Jason catches up he tries to say, “We need to go-” but Billy abruptly clamps his hand over his mouth and drags him away from the corner they were just turning. Jason’s too gay to realize that there are monks coming because all he’s thinking about is how close Billy is and how he can feel his extremely toned biceps.  _ He smells so nice… How is he so hot and cute at the same time… I’m too gay for this… someone help… Oh! People just passed us.  _

 

Billy, unfortunately, backs away from Jason finally removing his hand and motioning for him to keep his voice down. “I know you want to get Kim,” he whispers. “She’s probably staying at the visiting homes near the training center for non-nomad visisters.” Jason nods and they start making their way over.

 

Once they reach the homes they can clearly tell which one Kim is staying at because there’s a dragon tail poking from behind the house. Jason is still not over the fact that she never told him the royal family had dragons. He thought they all died hundreds of years ago.

 

“Uh, I’d wait out here,” Jason tells Billy. “Kim’s not exactly a morning person and I wouldn’t want you to get burned.” Billy is slightly confused but nods anyways while Jason open the door and steps inside. Cautiously walking over to the sleeping lump on the bed, he acknowledges how much comfier this place looks and gets kind of offended that Shyu made him stay in the “training center.” 

 

Now that he’s closer and has a better look at her face, Jason notices that Kim wears her bandages to sleep. He never got to ask her what happened between her and Rita. He wants to take a peek but decides against it, in favor of letting Kim open up when she’s ready. Jason pokes Kim’s face and she springs up startled, forming a fireball.

 

“Woah woah!” Jason yells. “It’s just me!”

 

“Sorry Jay,” Kim mumbles still tired, but extinguishes her fire. “What are you doing here?”

 

“We need to go. We’re gonna help people with or without the fire sages’ permission.” 

 

“Mmkay,” she says, but pulls the sheets closer and closes her eyes. “Gimme like 10 more minutes.”

 

“Kim no,” Jason says tapping her shoulder until an irritated Kim opens her eyes again. “Billy’s waiting outside.”

 

“Oh so you go and get Billy first huh?” Kim asks and Jason gives her an annoyed look. She says, “What happened to bros before hoes?”

 

“Billy isn’t a hoe,” he says a little too defensively and Kim just quirks an eyebrow which makes Jason roll his eyes. “Oh shut up, he was closer. Just get ready.”

 

Kim grumbles under her breath as she gets out of bed but Jason is still able to hear her say, “I’m literally right next to the training center… You just want my sweet dragon.” Jason rolls his eyes and makes his way outside to Billy so she can get ready.

 

After an annoyingly long while, Kim emerges from inside not wearing her traditional royal clothing and instead wearing a rogue, black outfit with a hood. Jason figures she wants to keep her royal status unknown while their nation is actively attacking others. Jason on the other hand, decided he’s had enough of the air bending clothes and switched back to his fire nation attire before going to get Billy. 

 

“You look badass,” he says. 

 

“Thanks,” Kim smiles and puts her hood down. “Now let’s go kick some ass.” She motions for the boys to follow as she walks around to the back of the temporary home. After turning the corner they come to a sudden stop when they see someone standing near Alpha.

 

“Going somewhere?” Shyu asks. He’s holding Alpha’s reins with a disappointed look on his face. It’s only when the kid’s faces become more panicked and Billy starts talking with an “uh…” that Shyu’s stern face cracks and he lets out a laugh. The gang is no longer panicking but they do look at each other in confusion.

 

“You’re not going anywhere without these,” Shyu says letting go of Alpha’s reins and standing aside to reveal the bags of food he packed. Kim and Billy rush over to the food and start taking inventory of everything they have. 

 

Jason walks over and hugs Shyu. “I thought you were going to try to stop us,” he says.

 

“I can’t stop the avatar from doing his job,” Shyu says pulling away from the hug with a sad smile. “I knew eventually you’d have to perform your avatar duties and stop training with me. I just didn’t think it’s be so soon.”

 

“Why didn’t you say anything when I was trying to convince the council and fire sages?”

 

“The fire sages made up their mind long before you started talking. Their first priority is going to be the avatar and keeping you alive,” Shyu says. “But the avatar’s duty is to keep balance in the world, and I knew you would want to help anyways.” Jason smiles and is about to speak when Kim cuts into their conversation. 

 

“If you’re done with the father-son chat, we should really get going,” Kim says.

 

“She’s right. It’s almost sunrise, which means the elder nomads are already awake,” Billy mumbles with his mouth full of sweet buns. 

 

“You should really save those for the trip,” Shyu says causing Billy to dejectedly put back the two sweet buns he was holding. “I should go before they’ve noticed that I’ve left,” he says towards Jason. “Good luck.” 

 

After one more hug, Jason gets onto Alpha along with Kim and Billy. Alpha is one of the last living ancient dragons, so he’s big enough to have a saddle that fits the crew and all of their luggage with extra space. They wave goodbye to Shyu before taking off and if you ask Jason he most definitely did not scream at the sudden lift off. 

 

When they have a steady flight, Kim lets go of the reins and joins the others who are currently working on a plan. “Since the attacks on the air temple were unsuccessful. Goldar will probably move onto earth kingdom villages,” she says.

 

“Who’s Goldar?” Jason asks.

 

“He’s the new general that took after my father,” Kim says.

 

“What happened to your father?” Billy asks.

 

“He-” she says pausing to look at Jason. “He died a couple months ago.”

 

“I’m so sorry Kim,” Jason says. “I should’ve been there.”

 

“You weren’t,” Kim says a little too sharply but then sighs, “but that wasn’t your fault. You had to train to become the avatar. It was selfish of me to blame you for leaving.”

 

“I still should’ve told you earlier,” Jason says.

 

“You should’ve,” Kim says before cracking a smile, “but I can’t keep that grudge forever. Besides, remember when I finally dated the girl that we both liked but didn’t get around to telling you until after we broke up months later because I was too scared at you being mad at me?”

 

Jason laughs, “I will never forgive you for Gia. Do you know embarrassing it was to ask her how she feels about you only to find out that she’s already dated you for months!”

 

She shakes her head laughing before continuing, “Anyways as I was saying, we should head to the earth kingdom, see where the fire nation is set up, and defend the villages near them.”

 

Billy does a series of little claps. “This is so exciting! We’re like a uh- uhm... a superhero team!” He gasps, “Can we have a secret handshake? Or a uh a team motto? What about a team name!? I mean… there’s only three of us right now but that doesn't mean more people can’t join us in the future right? Oh what if-” 

 

Jason and Kimberly look at each other very amused by Billy’s excitement. He’s still talking but it’s too fast for any of them to understand. It’s not until he gasps again that they turn back to him.

 

“Team avatar!” He hollers and then extends his hand in the middle of their circle, excitedly looking at the other two for approval.

 

“Team avatar?” Kim asks with a crinkle of her nose.

 

“It’s not the worst,” Jason says. 

 

Kim snorts, “Can that be our team motto? ‘Not the worst.’ ” Jason laughs before they finally put their hands over Billy’s.

 

“Team avatar!” They all yell and lift their hands up in their air. Kim turns back to the front and grabs Alpha’s reins.

 

She grins, “The fire nation doesn’t stand a chance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all my beta readers!! Go follow them all on tumblr they are great human beings  
> @cabooseachievables  
> @juniorthib  
> @powerrangershumour
> 
> So sorry it took 84 years to finally update! Hopefully, I can update more frequently now that I'm not Too Overwhelmed.
> 
> Trini and another ranger are introduced next chapter!


	3. Ambushed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two new characters are introduced but team avatar isn't complete just yet. This chapter is based off one of my favorite avatar episodes, so enjoy ;)

“We’ve been traveling for weeks, Jason,” Kim grunts handing the reins to Billy and plopping down on Alpha’s back near the food.

 

“We can’t stay in one place for too long,” Billy says while giving Alpha a little pat. “That’d risk the fire nation finding us. Besides, we’re on the ground a lot.”

 

“Yeah we’re on the ground, fighting fire nation soldiers or training Jason in airbending. I just want to be able to sleep somewhere decent without having to use a bag of sweet buns as a pillow,” she says reaching into the aforementioned bag and realizing it’s empty. “Billy,” she seethes. “Where are all the sweet buns?”

 

Billy nervously scratches his head but doesn’t turn around. “Uh, about that…”

 

“Great!” She throws the bag down and points at it. “Jason we need to stop!”

 

“Maybe we should,” Jason says, trying to hold back a laugh. “Just for a little while.”

 

“I don’t know guys…” Billy’s reluctance is followed up by a loud angry rumble from Alpha.

 

“See! Alpha agrees with me! He wants to rest too,” Kim yells.

 

Billy sighs, “Alright fine, but we’re just gonna settle somewhere we can camp. Not at an inn.” Alpha immediately starts heading down, while the others let out an excited yell. 

 

When Alpha finally lands on solid ground, Kim jumps off leaving the boys to unpack their stuff. A giant koi fish springs up from the ocean they’ve landed near giving her a sense of deja vu but she’s not able to place why it’s familiar. When she turns around, Billy and Jason have already unmounted and set up their sleeping bags.

 

“I’ll go get some wood for the fire. Don’t cry too much while I’m gone,” Kim says and disappears into the trees. Jason chuckles and grabs a spear from one of the large packs. Billy was too preoccupied counting their belongings that he was unprepared to look up and see Jason with his shirt off and pants rolled up heading into the water. 

 

It’s not that he’s never seen Jason shirtless before because he has. The boy makes an excuse to strip whenever he can, but Billy will never be less amazed at the sight. He unceremoniously drops everything he’s holding causing Jason to look up from the fish he was currently tracking. 

 

“You okay Billy?” Jason says and finally stops holding up the spear to check on Billy which gives the airbender some time to catch his breath because the flexing was too much for him to handle. Realizing that Jason is still staring and looking for an answer, Billy stumbles across a response.

 

“Uh,” he says picking everything up frantically. “Yup. I’m- uh... Everything’s fi- okay. I’m good.”

 

Jason shrugs and promptly gets back to fishing. Billy really does try his best at continuing his count but can he really help it when there’s a such a great distraction in front of him? It’s not that he’s staring, he’s just… observing his fishing techniques. Kim comes back a couple minutes later to find Billy still staring at Jason. 

 

“Hey Billy,” she says causing the younger boy to jump up again, “you wanna help me set up the fire?”

 

After the fire’s been set, Jason comes back with dinner and they all settle around it with Alpha snoring softly next to them. It’s under the night sky and crackle of the fire that they finally have a moment to relax after all they’ve done for the small earth kingdom villages.

 

“I uhm,” Billy starts asking Kim prompting her to look up at him, “what happened to your face?” Jason visibly cringes at the question and Billy tries to amend his question. “I didn’t mean it in a rude way, I’ve just never seen you without the bandages and I was curious.”

 

“It’s okay Billy,” Kim smiles slightly. “I got it after I tried attacking Jason. My mother sent me to kill him and when I came back home empty handed she wasn’t too happy.”

 

“Your mom attacked you?!” 

 

Kim nods.

 

“Oh. I’m sorry.” Billy looks towards the fire and readjusts in his seat. “I never really knew my parents, which I guess is better than having bad ones. I like to pretend they’re really nice people.”

 

“Did they die?” Jason asks.

 

“I don’t know.” Jason’s forehead crinkles in confusion and he looks toward Kimberly for help.

 

Billy questions, “You didn’t learn about the air nomads in school?”

 

“He was never the best student,” Kimberly chimes in. “He was too busy making all the girls swoon while playing Kuai ball,” when she realizes she’s talking to Billy she adds, “and boys.”

 

“Well... airbending children born in the main air nation temples are separated from their parents and are put in the care of monks so that personal attachment doesn’t interfere with their enlightenment,” Billy says sounding like he’s reciting a book.

 

“You’re not allowed to have personal attachment?” Jason asks.

 

“At first yes, but total enlightenment requires complete detachment from the world. It’s a lot easier to let go of friends then it is to let go of your parents. Didn’t you notice that at the northern air temple there’s no women or girls?”

 

Kimberly starts snickering and thinks,  _ He was probably too busy looking at you _ .

 

“Uhm no,” Jason tries to say in between Kim’s laughter. “Also that’s complete bullshit. It can be a lot harder to let go of friends.” 

 

“I’m gonna have to agree with Jason on this one,” Kim says. “Friends are just the family you pick up along the way.”

 

“Aww Kimmy,” Jason says. “I never knew you felt that way about me.”

 

“Shut up,” Kim says chucking the sticky bun bag at Jason. “Who says I was talking about you?”

 

A comfortable silence falls over them as they all know that she was talking about them. After they’ve all finished eating, Billy puts out the fire, and they all head to their sleeping bags. Once they’re all settled in, it’s easy for them to fall asleep to the soothing sounds of the ocean waves next to them.

  
  


\-------

  
  
  


Kimberly is woken up by the sounds of Billy’s yells. She tries getting into a fighting stance but she’s pushed back on the ground before she can fully get up. Kim yells for help but is knocked out by a sword hilt hitting her in the back of the head. Brown boots fill her vision before everything fades to black.

  
  
  


\-------

  
  
  


She wakes up tied to a large wooden pole with a bunch of girl warriors talking in front of them. The green robes and brown armor give Kim another feeling of deja vu, but with the ambushers having their backs turned on them she isn’t able to identify a face. Turning to her right, she sees Billy and Jason just starting to wake up and tries to convey with a glare to stay quiet so she can listen in to the conversation. 

 

One of the girls is holding a sword and appears to be leading the rest. The girl beside her is the next to speak up. “What should we do with them?”

 

“ They’re only kids, but Mr. Handsome is wearing elite fire nation clothes. Might be related to a general. Let’s just take him as a hostage for now,” says the leader.

 

Kim’s head turns to Jason who seems pretty confident and mouths  _ Mr. Handsome _ at her causing Kim to roll her eyes.

 

" What about the airbender and the girl?”

 

“They’re associated with him. Take them as well.”

 

The severity of the situation finally catches up to Kim and she quickly tries to find a way out. She looks up and notices the pole they’re attached to is hoisting up a statue of some kind. When the warriors turn around showing their faces full of makeup is when it finally clicks.

 

“Hey hey wait!” The yell seems to surprise the girl with the sword enough to stop advancing forward. “You guys are the kyoshi warriors! I know you guys. I visited kyoshi island when I was a little girl with my father.”

 

“Yup, that’s us. Glad to meet a fan,” the girl says sarcastically.

 

“You don’t wanna take us as hostages,” Kim says.

 

“Oh?” The girl laughs. “And why’s that? We’ve been fending this island from fire nation for a while. We’re not just gonna let you go.”

 

“Because that guy,” Kim says pointing to Jason,” is the avatar.” Jason gives his signature wide smile, but the fighter doesn’t seem impressed. 

 

“Like I said, we’ve been fending you off for a while. That’s not the first time a captive has said that,” she says growing increasingly more irritated.

 

“I can prove it!” Jason finally chimes in. “I mean I haven’t exactly mastered all the elements yet but I’ve been practicing air bending!”

 

“I’m not taking of your binds just so you can run away! Do you think I’m an-”

 

The leader is interrupted by the girl next to her, “Maybe you should just let him show us, Tommy. I mean he wasn’t that hard to take down.” Jason is very offended by the statement but tries not to let it show.

 

“Fine,” Tommy grumbles. She unsheathes her sword to cut the rope but before she even lifts it up, Jason has already airbended his way out of the ropes. 

 

He puts on a show using both fire and air, trying to make it clear he’s the avatar. The girls look on with astonished faces and when Jason finishes his show they even let out some Ooh’s and Ah’s. Kimberly didn’t think she could roll her eyes harder if she tried. Billy seems to be in a mix of proud and annoyed.

 

Tommy puts her sword back into its scabbard and says, “You really are the avatar.” After extending a hand she apologizes, “I’m sorry. It’s nice to meet you.”

 

“No worries,” Jason forgives her and shakes Tommy’s hand, “but can you please let go of my friends?”

 

Tommy gives a nod and the other Kyoshi warriors rush over to untie the rest of team avatar. Before they can untie them however, Kimberly burns through the rope and mutters something about, “Ambushing us while we’re sleeping isn’t really a fair fight so obviously we were easy to take down. You could’ve at least let me sleep ‘till noon.” 

 

“I am so sorry avatar for this inconvenience,” says one of the warriors.

 

“It’s okay-” Jason says but is cut off by another one.

 

“We’re so sorry. What can we do help you?” She asks.

 

“I don’t-”

 

“We can take you to our village leader,” yells a different warrior.

 

“Guys, let’s give him some space,” Tommy tries to say but is completely ignored.

 

“He’ll probably throw a buffet, and we have a place for you and your friends to stay,” says another one.

 

“Food and sleep?” Kimberly hums, “Sounds good to me.” She throws her arm around Jason’s shoulder. “C’mon avatar. I need some crab puffs and a nap.”

  
  
  


\-------

  
  
  
  


The Kyoshi warriors were only the start of Jason’s popularity on this island. Not only were they right in the amazing reception, complete with a large buffet and a room to stay, but Jason is constantly being followed by a small crowd of avatar fans. They repainted the Avatar Kyoshi sculpture, gave Alpha a full spa treatment, and overall were all delighted from the avatar’s presence. 

 

Billy might say they were a little too delighted at Jason’s presence. They’re currently eating lunch together in their temporary room. Kimberly told them she already has plans and the boys knew better than to question her. Not only are they stuffing their faces with sweets, Billy is also excitedly going over the history of the island and avatar Kyoshi as a part of their “Jason learns about the world he’s protecting” lesson. 

 

“She seperated an entire chunk of land from the earth kingdom and created this island Jason! Isn’t that so cool? She used a combination of airbending, earthbending, and lavabending-”

 

“Lavabending?” Jason interjects.

 

“Yeah lavabending, more on that later. As I was saying, Chin the conqueror refused to move from his place and the unstable ground before him gave way causing him to fall and drown in the ocean below. This led to an era of peace facilitated by avatar Kyoshi-” Billy continues on with his history lesson but Jason tunes out the words.

 

It’s not that he wasn’t interested in the history because he was, but the main reason that Jason suggested this in the first place was because Billy was adorable whenever he was excited. If there was anything that Jason could do to bring a smile to Billy’s face he would do it. It’s during this rambling that the someone knocks on the door to their quarters.

 

Billy pauses his lecture to open the door and is greeted by a group of girls around their age who rudely walk past Billy as if he wasn’t there. Giggles fill up the room and Jason is left surrounded in the corner. Billy doesn’t hear much of their conversation because all he can see is Jason’s big smile, so he looks away and tunes them all out until Jason taps on his shoulder to tell him he’ll be back later. He hides his disappointment and tells him, “Okay, but I’m eating all the rest of the food.”

 

Jason laughs, “Alright you can have it.” After he’s gone, Billy throws away the food and heads out the door.

  
  
  


\-------

  
  
  


On the other side of the village, Kimberly’s waiting up for Tommy as the other Kyoshi warriors leave their practicing hut. She watched their whole session on one of the benches to the side. When the place is empty and Tommy comes sauntering up to her with wiggling eyebrows and the kyoshi get-up still on, she can’t help but laugh.

 

“Did you enjoy the show?” Tommy asks. 

  
“The fighting was very impressive,” Kimberly says ignoring the flirtation. “I’ve never really seen good fighting outside of bending, but the outfits on the other hand…”

 

“What’s wrong with my outfit!” Tommy puts a hand over her heart in mock offense. “It’s badass and it’s tradition!”

 

“It’s traditionally ugly,” Kim says. When Tommy lets out a loud gasp, she bursts out laughing.

 

“Now you’ve gone too far,” Tommy says teasingly.  “Coming into my own home and mocking a girl’s armor! Didn’t your mother ever teach you not to insult a lady’s attire?” 

 

Kimberly’s face falls and Tommy immediately knows she has said something wrong. She rests her sword on the wall and sits nexts to her.

 

“My mother never really taught me anything,” Kim says. Tommy notices the closed off behavior and rules out asking more because she probably won’t get answer. She makes a mental note to bring that up again later, but right now she’s focused on making this girl happy again. Standing up abruptly, she flourishes her arm and then bows offering Kim her hand. 

 

When Tommy doesn’t feel Kim’s hand, she looks up and is met with a questioning look so she explains herself, “Since you love our fighting style so much, you will now have the best teacher in all the land to teach it to you.” Ending the sentence with a wink, she stands up straight again.

 

Kim laughs, “And who would that be?” She pretends to look around. “I don’t see anyone around here.”

 

“Ha ha,” Tommy says sarcastically. “Try not to hurt my feelings  _ too  _ much.”

 

“I can teach you something as well,” Kim says.

 

“Oh?” Tommy raises an eyebrow. “What are you going to teach me?”

 

“How to fight against benders. If you’re going to try and last this war you’ll need to learn to hold your own against benders. Your fans aren’t going to be enough,” Kim says.

 

“These fans are more deadly than you think. Besides, what makes you think we don’t already know how to fight against benders? I have an earthbending friend,” Tommy says.

 

“Well what about against firebenders?” Kim says and makes a smile fireball to prove her point.

 

“Fair enough,” Tommy says, “but if I’m gonna teach you the Kyoshi fighting style then you need to follow all of our traditions.”

 

“All?”

 

“All of them.”

  
  


\-------

  
  


Two hours later and Kimberly has had enough of training for the day. Tommy insisted on following all the traditions but when she approached Kimberly with the makeup, the look on Kim’s face made her forget about just this one.

 

“You know,” Kim says looking down at the Kyoshi armor, “now that I’ve worn it for a while and fought in it? It’s not that bad… the robe is unnecessary though.”

 

Tommy laughs, “You sound just like Trini.” At the confused look on Kim’s face she explains, “Trini’s the earthbending friend I was talking about earlier. She’s pretty badass, I think you’d like her.”

 

“Does she live here on the island?” Kim asks.

 

“Uhm, it’s kind of complicated. She has a little base here which she calls home but she does a lot of reconnaissance missions for us. She’s a good sailor for an earthbender,” Tommy says.

 

“But she’s not from here?” Kim says a bit confused.

 

“You’ll have to ask her about that, she’s a very reserved person, but between you and me,” Tommy says and then leans forward, “Once you get to know her she’s a big softie.” The girls laugh as they exit the training hut and literally bump into Billy outside who jumps back not expecting to have seen them so soon.

 

“Oh hey Kim,” Billy says, “I almost didn’t recognize you with the whole get up.” 

 

“Hi Billy. I thought you were having lunch with Jason?” Kim asks.

 

“Jason left a bit early so I was wondering if you wanted to grab a bite to eat? Tommy you should join us too!” Billy says. Kim notices that something's off but she decides to ask Billy about it later.

 

The girls obviously agree because what monster would say no to Billy. Plus, Kimberly is famished from training all morning and unlike when she was still in the fire nation she can actually take a longer break to stuff her face with food. It takes them a couple minutes to put on some civilian clothing, but the trio is soon heading into the center of town walking a little bit too fast.

 

They find a quiet little restaurant to settle down, thanks to Tommy’s request. It’s really the only restaurant on the island and the use of restaurant is a bit of a stretch as it’s really just a small building with four tables to sit at outside that face the market. As soon as they’re all settled and each given some  seared wild Kyoshi elephant koi because they’re all “acquaintances with the avatar” they spot the legend himself on the opposite side of the street surrounded by the group of girls.

 

The girls move to the side giving the trio a clear look at Jason who’s in the middle of doing one arm pushups while the girls cheer on. Tommy whistles getting the attention of the avatar who looks up and flashes a big smile in their direction. When Kim looks over at Billy she puts together why something’s been off about him today.

 

“Billy,” Kim says trying to contain her amusement, “are you jealous?”

 

“What!?” Billy whips his head to look at Kim. “Ha ha, no! I’m not jealous, why would I be jealous?”

 

“Mhm, that’s why you’ve cut through your fish and are now trying to cut through the plate?” Kim asks. Billy looks down to see he’s actually scratched the poor plate and slowly puts down the knife.

 

This interaction finally clicks in Tommy’s head and she says, “You didn’t tell me you were third wheeling this whole time Kim! I’m so sorry for you.”

 

“It’s not that bad actually. It’s been very amusing on my end,” Kim says.

 

“She hasn’t been third wheeling!” Billy squeeks. “Me and Jason aren’t dating!”

 

Tommy raises an eyebrow. “But you still want to tap that, right?”   
  
The fish-out-of-water look on Billy’s face sends the girls into a fit of laughter. They’ve been laughing for a whole minute and Billy’s too busy burying his face in his hands that none of them notice Jason has stopped impressing the village folk and has walked over to join them.

 

“What’s so funny?” Jason asks. Billy almost jumps out of his seat in shock.

 

“Oh hey Jason,” Billy says. “Nothing really. Kim was just um-”

 

“Making fun of you like usual,” Kim pipes in. 

 

“Of course,” Jason says rolling his eyes. “Do you mind if I join you? I’m starving.”

 

“I can imagine. You didn’t even finish lunch,” Billy says a little too aggressively. Kim snorts into her drink but even with the slight hostility, Billy grabs a chair from another table so Jason can join them. As soon as Jason sits down they already set another plate of seared elephant koi in front of him.

 

“What’s with the fish?” Jason asks.

 

“It’s a gourmet dish served only to the wealthy or well-known,” Kim says.

 

“You would know all about that wouldn’t you,” Jason laughs not realizing his mistake. Kimberly gives him a glare and then nudges her head in Tommy’s direction, but Tommy doesn’t seem to think anything of it.

 

“And now, so do you. Oh wise avatar” Kim says sarcastically. 

 

“Speaking of,” Billy says, “we should be leaving soon.”

 

“What!? We’ve only been here for two days,” Jason says.

 

“We were only supposed to rest for one. We’re still high value targets. It’s too dangerous for us to stay in one place for too long,” Billy says.

 

“Leaving so soon?” Tommy says. “We could always use the company of the avatar.”

 

“I think Billy’s right. We should get going,” Kim says.

 

Jason gets up from his seat, “That is stupid. We’re on an island and the fire nation lost track of us a long time ago. This is the one time I’ve had a good break since I learned I became the avatar. We’re staying here for a little bit longer.” He walks away not seeing the hurt look on Billy’s face who he’s shared all his breaks with during his avatar training. 

  
  
  


\-------

  
  
  


There were two more days of peace before Billy’s warning was proved correct. Kimberly was in the middle of training Tommy on how to fight firebenders, Billy was buying food in the market and Jason was taking a nap in their room when the rumble of engines in the distance were first heard.

 

As soon as Kim hears the fire nation troops she stops in the middle of training, confusing Tommy who was about to go for a roundhouse kick. Kim motions for her to stay quiet in order to confirm. When they both hear the engines, they spring into action.

 

“I’ll call the warriors. Go notify the avatar and warn the village,” Tommy says running away.

 

When Kimberly reaches the main square, she’s glad to see that Billy is already evacuating the townspeople so all she needs to do is find Jason. She waves to him as she runs past, heading in the direction of their temporary room. The engines getting louder and louder as Kim hopes that Jason is still a light sleeper. Opening the door to the room, she sees Jason’s already dressed and ready to go. They’ve done this so many times that all they need to do is nod at each other and they’re ready to go.

 

“Tommy’s getting the warriors. Their usual defensive method is to cut them off before they reach the town so they’re probably already on their way,” Kim says as they walk outside. Jason nods along but she can tell something is bothering him. As soon as they’re about to step outside they quickly realize Tommy’s plan isn’t going to work this time. The fire nation troops are already here.

 

Jason and Kimberly quickly close the door and move to the windows to get a closer look. The soldiers are all lined up on main road, facing the main building they’re currently hiding in. Some are riding komodo rhinos while others are on foot. In front of the pack is their commander wearing a different variation of the regular armor with more gold coloring than red. There’s an eerie silence, as the few villagers who were too late in evacuating are watching the incoming threat.

 

“Where is the avatar?” The golden soldier’s shout breaks the quiet. “Bring him forward and no one will get hurt.” Besides her Jason stirs so Kim grabs him by the arm to keep him from running out there. If they wait this out long enough, they might think Jason’s already moved on. She looks over the area trying to keep a mental map of where all the civilians are. A lot of them are in the same building as they are. 

 

“I know you have him,” the commander says again, his voice noticeably more agitated. While glancing around, Kim spots Billy peeking out from behind one of the roofs. They’ll wait a little bit longer and then sneak out the back while the troop searches the houses. Hopefully, Billy does the same but it’s a lot easier for him to escape.

 

Just as she goes to Jason to tell him the plan she sees a blur of green out of the corner of her eye. She turns her head to see the Kyoshi warriors setting up for an attack.

 

“Oh for fucks sake,” Kim whispers.  _ Why is it that our plans never go according to plan _ . She gets up and pulls Jason up by the arm with her, hoping that he gets the message. If Tommy’s gonna start a fight, they might as well help her finish it.

 

Outside, the golden soldier continues spouting some nonsense, “Reveal the avatar at once, or there will be consequences.”

 

Jason airbend kicks the door down and yells, “I’m right here bitch!” 

 

This causes enough distraction for the Kyoshi warriors to spring out from the shadows and attack the soldiers on mounts. The commander seems unprepared for the stunt and takes a while before starting to yell orders. Kimberly doesn’t make any hesitation in approaching him first, while Jason fends off the soldiers ordered to take him down. 

 

“You don’t deserve to wear that armor,” Kim says sending a fireball in the direction of the golden soldier. He laughs before easily parrying the attack. They exchange some strikes back and forth but no one is hit. Several buildings around them are catching on fire due to the other soldiers, but Billy is doing his best to get people out.

 

“Your father was a weak man,” he says. Kim wipes the sweat from her forehead, her hand shaking with anger. It’s now that she recognizes the voice from the war meeting. Before lowering her hand completely, she jabs it out releasing a lightning strike. Usually, that move is enough to deal with more difficult opponents...Usually.

 

He redirects it easily much to Kim’s surprise. What horrifies her is how the shot was redirected to his left side hitting one of his soldiers, and he didn’t even bat an eyelash at the scream. He attacks again before Kim has fully recovered and she stumbles onto the ground trying to dodge it.

 

“We have orders not to kill the avatar,” he says taking a step forward, “His friends, however, are very much expendable.”

 

Just as he’s about to fire at Kim, a folding metal fan comes barreling from the right and hits him in the head. Kim takes the opportunity to get up from the ground and kick his helmet off.

 

“Hello Goldar,” she says. Right next to them a house’s foundation is hit causing it to topple over. Both Kim and Goldar have to run backwards so they aren’t hit by the collapsing building and she loses sight of him.

 

Tommy walks past her to pick up her fan and says, “See? More deadly than you think.” 

 

Their laughs are interrupted by Jason’s call for help near the main building. The girls head over to help with the swarm of fire nation soldiers surrounded him, but even with their help they’re still overwhelmed. The army seems to be setting up one large attack and they won’t be able to parry an attack of that size. They brace for the impact but right before they’re about to be hit, Billy swoops in to shield them with an air bubble. The shield, however, wasn’t big enough and the main building is hit with most of the impact.

 

“Most of the villagers are hiding in there,” Billy yells over the continuous fire blasts to his shield.

 

“You and Jason go deal with the troops,” Tommy says. “Me and Kim will get everyone out.”

 

The girls rush into the building ordering everyone to leave. Kim blasts a hole in the back for everyone to escape out of, while Tommy leads everyone to the bottom floor. They get most of the villagers out of the burning building, but there’s a little girl on the top floor that’s too scared to go downstairs. She’s shaking with fear and clutching onto a small teddy bear close to her chest. 

 

“Kim we’re running out of time. This building isn’t gonna be standing up for much longer,” Tommy yells from the bottom.

 

As Kim gets closer to the girl, she notices the tears falling. “Hey sweetie, I know this is scary but I’m gonna help you get to safety okay?” The little girl shakes her head no, so Kim puts her hands on the girl’s shoulders.

 

“What’s your name?” Kim asks.

 

“Joyce,” she says pulling the teddy bear closer to her chest.

 

“Okay, Joyce. I need you to be strong for me okay?” Kim says. “We just have to walk down these stairs and out the hole in the back. Would it be okay if I carried you?”

 

When the little girl nods, Kim picks her up and heads downstairs where Tommy is waiting. They’re halfway to safety when one of the main pillars collapses and the roof comes hurling down. Kim and Tommy both move to shield the girl with their bodies. A couple seconds pass before they realize they’re not dead.

 

“Trini! Oh thank god!” Tommy says, standing up and dusting herself off. “Took you long enough.” 

 

Kim looks up and sees the roof being held up by makeshift pillars made from earthbending. When her eyes land on the earthbender responsible, Kim concludes that she is the most beautiful being that Kim has ever her laid her eyes on. 

 

“Hello to you too Tommy,” Trini smirks and Kim has to tell herself to breathe. Trini picks up Joyce and heads out back while Tommy and Kim head out through the front door. 

 

“That’s Trini!?” Kim says. “You didn’t tell me she was hot!”

 

Tommy is laughing so hard that she starts wheezing, and when Trini joins them after dropping off the little girl she seems confused but decides not to question it. Tommy’s about to speak again when fire is thrown inches away from her face.

 

“Okay so introductions are going to have to happen later,” Tommy says.

 

Jason and Billy have diminished the number of fire nation soldiers enough to turn the tide on the attack. Tommy’s shield spirals out of her arm and she points at the soldiers settling on the roofs. As Kim jumps onto the shield, Tommy pushes it upwards allowing Kim to jump off at a higher height and reach the roof. She lands on top of one of the soldiers and shoots the other one.

 

As she’s scouting on top of the roof she notices a little girl running towards the town. When she starts getting closer, Kim recognizes the little girl as the same one from the burning building. She runs into the house Kim’s on top of, so Kim jumps down and tries to find her. 

 

“Joyce?” Kim calls out into the dark living room. She hears ruffling in one of the rooms so she follows the noise. Walking into what Kim assumes is Joyce’s room, Kim did not expect to see a messenger hawk flying wildly around the room. The hawk eventually lands on the shoulder of the Joyce who is standing guiltily in the middle of the room.

 

“I couldn’t leave Junior,” Joyce says petting the messenger hawk. 

 

Kim smiles, “Okay but you really need to leave sweetie. It isn’t safe.”

 

Joyce nods and starts walking towards Kim but as she’s about to reach her Kim hears a blast of fire. The world seems to be in slow motion as Kim watches the fire burst through the window and hit Joyce. The startled hawk flies away and the girl falls to the ground. Kim kills the soldier responsible with lightning.

 

Tears are hitting the floor as Kim confirms that Joyce is no longer breathing. “I’m so sorry,” Kim says. For a second the face of Trent flashes in her head, but Kim doesn’t have time to mourn right now. She picks up the teddy bear that the little girl dropped and runs out of the house in the direction of the woods.

 

Some of the soldiers start firing at Tommy, but Trini shields her with an earthbending wall. Billy flies in and lands behind them while Jason takes out the men firing at Tommy.

 

“Hi Tommy!” Billy says. “You might wanna find a roof to hide under.”

 

“Wha-” Tommy starts to ask but Billy’s already running away so she does her best to follow him and orders the other Kyoshi warriors to find shelter. The team, including Trini and Tommy, makes it to one of the only intact buildings when Tommy realizes one of them is missing.

 

“Where’s Kim?” She asks with panic clear in her voice. 

 

A floor-shaking roar is heard from above them.

 

“Up there,” Billy says with a huge smile on his face.

 

When Tommy looks outside, she sees Alpha raining down fire on what’s left of the fire nation troop with Kim on top of the dragon. Goldar, realizing they’ve been defeated, calls back the remaining soldiers allowing Alpha to calm down and settle onto the ground. Everyone leaves the building and heads toward Kim who’s currently hoping off the dragon. 

 

“Looks like we fought them off this time,” Trini says.

 

“Yeah we did,” Tommy says and gives Alpha a hug around the neck. “All thanks to this big guy. I have never a loved an animal more than I do right now.”

 

“I’m sorry but,” Jason says looking at Trini with confusion, “who the hell are you?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long, but tbf this one is slightly longer than the other chapters. I know that I'm missing a ranger but don't worry Zack will be here soon! He's not an earthbender so I can't introduce him yet ;) He won't be in the next chapter but Soon™.
> 
> Thanks to @cabooseachievables for being my beta reader! ily <3


	4. New Additions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cue the Mission Impossible theme song.

Even with the evacuation of some of the village, there were still a lot of casualties from the battle. Half of the buildings were torn down and the rest were used as temporary medical centers or to house those who lost their homes. Kim’s currently in one of the medical centers helping bandage the arm of a little boy.

 

“Ryan, I’m gonna put this on your arm but it might sting a little. Is that okay?” Kim shakes the bottle of alcohol she’s holding. The little boy seems to hesitate for a second before nodding.

 

“Okay,” Ryan says. He’s yet to stop looking at Kim since she walked in here. Trini walks in as Kim starts applying the alcohol, and Kim motions for her to give her a second. When Kim grabs Ryan’s arm, Trini notices that the poor boy stops breathing and she can’t really blame him because if she was in that situation she would probably stop breathing too.

 

When Kim finishes bandaging him up, Ryan runs away to the opposite side of the room after a mumbled, “Thanks pretty lady.”

 

Trini laughs, “I think that little boy has a crush on you.” Kim shifts from one foot to the other and laughs awkwardly, not really sure how to respond.

 

“You must be the famous Kimberly Hart that Tommy keeps talking about,” Trini says.

 

“ And you must be Trini-” Kim says, “Wait. Famous? What exactly does Tommy say about me?”

 

“She says you’re pretty badass but I can already tell that from the big battle that just happened,” Trini says taking a step closer.

 

“I - uh...thanks,” Kim says with an obvious blush on her face. It’s now that she notices the earthbender is still wearing the same outfit from earlier. The one with no sleeves that gives Kim a clear look at her arms.  _ I can’t make fun of Billy anymore for ogling at Jason. _

 

“So where exactly are you from?” Trini interrupts her thoughts.

 

“Uhm what?” Kim wasn’t expecting a question and certainly not one about her past. She isn’t sure how much to keep a secret.

 

Trini takes another step forward, “You’re fire nation, but you’re not wearing fire nation clothes so I can’t tell what part you’re from, and you’re way more skilled than a regular fire nation soldier.”

 

“Uhhh…” Kim takes a step back and bumps into a table. 

 

“Uhh?” Trini repeats. “What are you hiding?”

 

Tommy appears from behind Kim and hits Trini on the shoulder. She’s carrying some lychee nuts and pops some in her mouth before speaking. “Don’t sound so menacing,” she says and then looks at Kim, “What she’s trying to say is that you don’t have to hide anything from us. We take fire nation refugees all the time. We’re just curious.”

 

“Okay,” Kimberly says. She figures that they both risked their lives to protect hers so they should know. “So I’m not just a regular firebender…”

 

“We figured,” Tommy says.

 

“I’m the daughter of the firelord,” Kim says. Trini’s eyebrows raise in surprise and Tommy chokes on her lychee nuts.

 

“Holy shit,” Trini whispers. 

 

“I knew she looked familiar,” Tommy says hitting Trini on the shoulder again. “You didn’t believe me!”

 

“Alright alright,” Trini says. “Stop hitting me!”

 

Kim looks at the two of them teasing each other and she gets hit with a wave of longing. She misses her friends at home and she misses being happy without this immense pressure on her shoulders. It’s probably best if they leave soon.

 

“I appreciate the help, but I think it’s time that we hit the road again. We can’t stay in one place for too long because then something like this happens,” Kim says gesturing around her.

 

“You’re not staying?” Trini asks.

 

“I can’t just abandon Jason,” Kim says and then quickly adds, “He’s my best friend.”

 

“Alright,” Tommy says and steps forward to hug her. “Just make sure you come back and visit. We could always use the help.”

 

Kim gives them a smile and a wave before leaving the center. There’s one more thing she has to do before they leave.

  
  
  


\-------

  
  
  


Kim stands in the middle of a small forest clearing with the wind blowing her hair and a dark overcast over her. On the ground in front of her is her father’s helmet. She kneels down to set Joyce’s teddy bear next to it and then puts her hands on her knees. Closing her eyes, she sees her father’s face. It doesn’t take long before all the memories come flooding in.

 

She wishes so badly she could go back to when she was just a kid. The thought causes her to scoff because of all she had to go through. Her life was never good but at least she had her father. Had.

 

_ I should’ve never left your funeral. You must be so disappointed in me. You always told me I was the strongest person you knew but that was all a lie wasn’t it? I don’t know how to be strong. I don’t want to be strong. All I’ve done is make things worse. I let Joyce die. I killed her. I killed her and I killed Trent. I killed him when mother was using me like a puppet. I let her use me and I almost killed my best friend. I don’t deserve Jason’s forgiveness. This is all my fault. I should’ve been able to save them. I don’t want to do this anymore. I’m so sorry father. _

 

Once the first tear breaks free Kim has to bend forward as the rest flow with gut-wrenching sobs. Shaking hands wipe away tears every few seconds, but the memories of her dad continue to flood her mind.

 

After a couple minutes she hears rustling of leaves nearby. Kim’s still sniffling quietly when Billy emerges from the trees with Jason soon appearing behind him. Billy doesn’t hesitate in pulling Kim into a hug when he sees her but at the sight of the makeshift grave, Jason stops in his tracks. 

 

As Kim pulls away from Billy, Jason says, “I’m sorry Kim.”

 

“Sorry?” Kim furrows her eyebrows. “Sorry for what?”

 

“It’s my fault,” he says. “I should’ve left when you guys told me to. I was just so caught up in being able to act normal that I lost track of what we were doing. It’s because of me that little girl is dead.”

 

“Jason it isn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known...” Kim trails off when she realizes the hypocrisy of the moment. “It’s not your fault,” she repeats.

 

“It’s not your fault either,” Billy says. “You guys can’t take the blame for everything. A lot of bad stuff is going to happen that we can’t control and if you take the blame for every decision then we’re not going to get very far. I don’t know about you guys but I really like what we’re doing and I’ve never had friends as amazing as you guys. You guys are amazing.”

 

“Thanks Billy. You’re pretty amazing too,” Kim says as her and Jason envelops him into a group hug.

 

When the hug has ended and they’re all wiping away their tears, a hawk flies down and lands on Jason’s shoulder. He almost jumps in shock at the sudden bird perching on his soldier.

 

“Why is there a hawk on me,” he says standing very still. Kim smiles and approaches them cautiously. 

 

“Her name is Junior,” Kim says petting the hawk.

 

“Okay… but why is she on my shoulder,” Jason says.

 

Kim shrugs, “It’s a messenger hawk. She could be useful, so don’t complain that she’s taken a liking to you.” That seems to calm Jason down as he visibly loosens up.

  
  


\-------

  
  
  


Trini and Tommy are sitting on top of a fallen wooden pillar in the midst of the main building rubble. They look onto the village as they pass a bag of lychee nuts amongst themselves. Trini was gone for weeks before she came back and saved Tommy’s life, so having Trini beside her gives her a huge wave of relief.

 

“I’m really glad you came back when you did,” Tommy says.

 

Trini scoffs,  “I can’t leave you alone for two seconds.”

 

“I was worried about you. You were gone for a really long time. Thought you finally got discovered this time,” Tommy says.

 

“Do you really have such little faith in me,” Trini tries to joke but after realizing Tommy still has that worried look on her face she’s more serious. “I’m not going anywhere. You’re my best friend Tommy.” There’s a moment of sincerity before Tommy’s worried face contorts as she tries to hide her amusement.

 

“Best friend?” Tommy laughs. “I’m your only friend!”

 

Trini swipes the bag of lychee nuts from Tommy’s hand and chucks it away causing Tommy to yell, “Hey!”

 

“I try to be genuine for once and this is what I get in return?” Trini says.

 

“Aww I’m sorry Trini! You’re my best friend too,” Tommy says pulling Trini into a tight hug and then proceeding to pat her head even though Trini has the deadliest glare on her face. Tommy grins at her in response until Trini sighs and gets up to get the lychee nuts. 

 

When Trini comes back Tommy asks, “So what did you find on your adventures?”

 

“I found another storage house,” Trini says passing the bag to Tommy and sitting down. “It’s the biggest one I’ve seen. All the smaller houses eventually transfer their things into this one.”

 

“This is great!” Tommy jumps up. “If we hit that one, it’d set back the fire nation for a while!”

 

“More than a while,” Trini says, “but there’s no way that we’d be able to do it on our own.”

 

Tommy sulks for a little bit before an idea pops into her head and she’s her usual bright self again. “Why don’t we go ask my new friends? I bet the avatar could do this whole mission on his own.”

  
  
  


\-------

  
  
  


Alpha almost sounds like he’s purring as Kim rubs his belly. Team Avatar’s previous campsite is a slightly ruined due to their unforeseen attack earlier that week, but that doesn’t seem to bother Jason who is sprawled on top of all of their forgotten sleeping bags. Billy’s the only one really packing things up like they’re supposed to be doing.

 

“Where’s our next destination avatar?” Kim asks.

 

Jason sits up with an exaggerated groan and says, “We head back to the mainland I guess.”

 

“Actually, I think we should head back to the airbending temple,” Billy says.

 

“What? No way, there are still people who need our help,” Jason says.

 

“And I get that, but there is only so much airbending I can teach you Jason. I’m not an airbending master and you need to master all the elements if we have any hope in defeating the fire nation once and for all,” Billy says.

 

“He’s got a point,” Kim says. “But we also can’t just leave these people defenseless.”

 

A voice from startles Kim from behind, “ What if you slow them down?” She turns around to see Trini walking towards them with Tommy close behind her.

 

“What?” Jason says finally standing up.

 

Tommy says, “We’ve been making plans to attack Fire Nation storage houses. Where they keep all their weaponry and food, so that they’d give the villages some time to recover. That’s what Trini was scouting out for, and she found a golden opportunity. We didn’t think we’d be able to attempt an attack until a month or two, but with the help of the avatar we can do the mission in days, and even better, we can attack the biggest storage facility.”

 

They all consider the offer for a moment before Kim says, “What’s the plan?”

 

“We blow it up,” Trini says.

 

“Really?” Jason says, exasperated, but Billy seems thrilled at the prospect.

 

“We have a lot of blasting jelly,” Trini says with a shrug.

 

Tommy glares at her as she speaks, “It’s a little more developed than that. It requires stealth, but yes essentially we’d be blowing it up.”

 

“If you help us with this, it’d set back the fire nation from the villages, and give you some time to master airbending afterwards. It’s a win-win,” Trini says.

 

Kim, Jason, and Billy look at each other. Billy’s clear excitement and Trini’s logical explanation fades away all concern Jason had about the mission. 

 

After a nod from Kim, Jason says, “Alright. We’re in.” Tommy smiles as she shakes Jason’s hand and Trini sighs in relief at the agreement.

 

“The blasting jelly is at my place but I’m gonna need help bringing it over. There’s a lot,” Trini says.

 

“Well we’ve got a lot of muscle,” Jason says, “and by muscle, I mean mostly Kim.”

 

“I can help with the explosives,” Billy says a little too cheerfully. “I don’t really remember my dad ‘cause we were separated when I was young but what I do remember is that he loved looking for cool things in the mountains and most of the time it involved blowing it up. I’m really good at building things, and uh bombs. Not that I have ever tried to explode things before, especially so close to the air temple because that would be wrong...”

 

Jason laughs, “What Billy means is that we’re here to help in any way we can.”

 

“Alright Trini. Lead the way,” Kim says.

  
  
  


\-------

  
  
  


They’ve been traveling quite a distance and Kimberly is very confused because she didn’t realize Kyoshi Island was large enough to have mountains. But here they are, hiking their way up for what seems like ages. She looks over at Jason and is glad to see she’s not the only who feels like they’ve been going to the middle of nowhere. 

 

“Hey Trini, where exactly are we-” Jason tries to say but is cut off when Junior lands on his shoulder again. “Where does she even come from?”

 

“Junior seems to really like you,” Billy says.

 

Jason starts petting the hawk and Tommy mumbles, “I wish I had a cool pet.”

 

Trini makes a sudden stop almost causing Kim to collide with her. “We’re almost there,” she says pointing downwards. They’ve made it to the top, revealing a circular area surrounded by these mountains. Right under them is a waterfall that forms a stream leading into a cave on the opposite side of them.

 

“You live there? That’s so cool! It’s like a secret lair inside of a mountain,” Billy says. 

 

“Yeah me and my roomate,” Trini says already making her way down with the others following close behind. 

 

“I said that at first too Billy,” Tommy says. “Trini, why do you always get all the cool things? You’ve got the lair, the earthbending. You’re like a more badass and gay version of me. Minus my amazing charm, of course.”

 

Trini raises an eyebrow before earthbending the ground from underneath Tommy causing her to fall onto her butt. Her mouth drops open in disbelief before she’s standing up and laughing again. The group having stopped their hike to witness the showdown.

 

“You’re just jealous because I make all the ladies swoon,” Tommy says with a flick of her hair.

 

“Who says I don’t make all the ladies swoon too,” Trini smirks. “Let’s not forget who asked who out here.” Kim almost trips on a branch but composes herself enough to not seem suspicious. 

 

“I’m sorry what,” Jason says. “I’m confused.”

 

_ Me too buddy _ , Kim thinks. 

 

“Oh, me and grumpy goblin over here used to skadoodle,” Tommy says. Trini scrunches her nose in disgust.

 

“We used to date. Don’t listen to her,” Trini says. “My point was that Tommy was head over heels for me, so she has no right to claim she’s a lady killer.”

 

Tommy scoffs, “I am a lady killer!” 

 

Kim laughs at the exclamation, mostly due to relief but partly due to Tommy yelling it right before she trips and almost falls again. 

 

“It’s not my fault that I  _ fall  _ too easily,” Tommy says. 

 

Trini stares back with a blank expression, clearly not understanding the pun.

 

Tommy grumbles, “I can’t believe I ever dated you.”

 

“Same here,” Trini laughs and then turns around to start walking again.

 

“Why am I friends with you again?” Tommy asks.

 

“My secret lair?” Trini says.

 

“Ah yes, now I remember,” Tommy says.

  
  
  


\-------

  
  
  


It only takes a couple more minutes for them to walk into the cave and face the brown door that looks hundreds of years old. Okay maybe a slight exaggeration, but the door is overrun with moss and almost blends into the cave walls if it weren’t for the dark brown wood peeking underneath. Trini grabs the latch and  knocks on the door three times with a pause in between the second and third knock.

 

The group hears various unlocking noises and Kim is left wondering who Trini’s roommate is. She honestly should’ve asked Tommy earlier if Trini was single or not because all these new bits of information are going to give her a heart attack. When the door opens to reveal an old man, all of Kim’s worries disappear.

 

The long, grey hair and beard give away the man’s loss of youth yet he wears a warm smile on his face. The green robes he’s wearing would normally indicate he’s from the earth kingdom but Kimberly recognizes his face.

 

“Hello Trini,” he says before giving the others a polite nod. “I see you brought some new friends today. Would you guys like some tea?”

 

“Yes please,” Tommy says and everyone else mumbles in agreement.

 

“I know you,” Kim says. “You’re General Iroh. You used to work for my father.”

 

“Please call me Iroh. My military days are long over,” Iroh says with a chuckle. “Come on in.”

 

They all squeeze through the door and are pleasantly surprised by the interior. Kim was expecting a dusty cave, so the wooden floors and furniture are a nice sight. The walls and roof, however, are made of stone and the reasoning is made clear when Iroh uses firebending to light the stove and get started on his tea. 

 

Tommy is already making her way down the hall while the others are still observing the living room and standing awkwardly at the door because they are unsure of what to do. Trini motions for the rest to follow her until they’re all facing an empty wall. She earthbends a door-shaped hole in the wall revealing a secret room and Billy, unable to contain his awe, let’s out a gasp.

 

“Pretty cool right?” Tommy says as she plops onto a couch on the side of the room. The table in the middle has a huge map on it with markings all over that eerily remind Kim of her mother’s war room. The right wall has the couch Tommy is currently laying across with a door next to it, the left wall has a large trunk and more seats, and the back wall is completely covered with filled bookshelves.

 

“Didn’t peg you as a reader,” Jason voices what Kim was thinking. He lingers by the door while Billy and Kim move to the right of the table to get a closer look at the map.

 

“Some of those are strategy or earthbending books and scrolls. The others are all Tommy’s,” Trini says as she grabs a smaller map. Kim’s so glad that she looks up in time to see Tommy’s embarrassed face.

 

“That was supposed to be a secret! I have a badass reputation to keep up,” Tommy says.

 

“What reputation?” Trini scoffs under her breath at the same time Billy says, “Books are badass.”

 

Tommy seems torn for a bit before saying, “You’re right, Billy.”

 

“Can we be book buddies? I have a lot of recommendations,” he says. 

 

Behind him Trini mouths  _ nerd _ at Tommy but Billy looks so excited that Tommy just sends a glare in her direction and says, “Sure Billy, I’d love to.”

 

Trini clears her throat. “Okay so here’s the deal,” she says pointing to a spot on the large the map as everyone gathers around her, “this is where I found the storage house we’re hitting.”

 

Junior flies off Jason’s shoulder and lands on the map, almost as if she’s listening in. On both the large map and the one Trini is holding there are a lot of markings so she must have been doing this for a long time.

 

“I have a couple of boats that we can use to get the bombs there but we’re gonna have to split up in pairs because every boat needs someone to control it and we can take turns,” she continues. Billy is already grabbing Jason’s arm so they can partner up, “and since we have an odd number that means Iroh’s going to be coming with us.”

 

“Dibs on Iroh,” Tommy calls out. Trini gives her a weird look so she explains, “What? The old man appreciates my jokes unlike some people.” 

 

Trini shrugs and then turns to Kim, “I guess that leaves you with me.” Kim smiles in return but she’s panicking on the inside. 

 

As she places the small map on top of the big one she says, “Here’s a close-up of what we’re looking at. The base is right here next to the water so we don’t have to carry the bombs anywhere. The coast is covered with trees so they shouldn’t see us coming.”

 

The door opens behind them which startles the group but it’s just Iroh walking in with a tray filled with tea cups. He hands Trini and Tommy their cups first, each of them having matching cups with the letter T on them that Kim finds adorable.

 

“Are you related to Trini?” Jason asks as Iroh hands the rest their tea.

 

“Oh no, I met Trini when I saved her from some bad men who were after her. We both wanted a place to hide so we decided to stick together,” he says. The smell of the tea is really nice and Iroh must have noticed Kim admiring it because he says, “Good right? It’s my famous jasmine tea.”

 

“It’s great, thank you,” Kim says.

 

“Iroh, are you alright with going on a mission?” Trini asks.

 

“Of course, I told you not to worry so much. If you need my help I’m there. I’m old but that doesn’t mean I can’t still kick some butt,” he says with a chuckle. “You know back in my prime, I was the best firebender there was. Now it’s probably you I guess,” Iroh says pointing to Jason.

 

“Actually that would be Kim,” says Billy. 

 

Jason scoffs, “Excuse me? I’m the avatar.”

 

“Jack of all trades. Master of none,” Kim says with a smile. Tommy erupts into giggles.

 

“I’m so glad Trini if finally making friends,” Iroh says causing Tommy to laugh harder.

 

“Iroh!” Trini yells.

 

“What?” Iroh says, “You’re always so broody all the time.”

 

“Okay thank you so much for the tea,” Trini says shoving Iroh out of the room. When the door closes she turns to Tommy, “I don’t brood, do I?”

 

Tommy gets off the couch and gives Trini a pat on the shoulder. “Yes,” she says before going to stand near the map. 

 

Trini sighs, “Anyways, I know how to get us there but there are a lot of fire nation soldiers so I’m not sure what our best plan would be.”

 

Jason leans over to get a closer look at the small map and asks, “What is the structure of the building?” 

 

“Metal. I won’t be able to bend while I’m in there,” Trini says.

 

Jason thinks for a moment. “How good are you at bending?”

 

Tommy speaks up. “Really good! She’s one of the best earthbenders out there. She even won,” she starts to trail off when she sees Trini glaring at her, “uh.. Competitions.”

 

Kim makes a mental note of that hesitation. Clearly Trini doesn’t want the whole group knowing about something.

 

“Okay here’s what I suggest,” Jason says in what Kim dubs his leadership voice. “Me and Trini will draw out their forces by distracting them in front of the main entrance. We can use the tree coverage to our advantage. Meanwhile, Billy, Kim, and Tommy can go in through the back entrance. You’d set up the blasting jelly and then run like hell out of there. Kim can light it. Me and Trini will be far away enough so we’re not affected by the blast. Iroh will be at the boats prepping them so as soon as he sees the blast we can book it. I think it’s better for Alpha to sit this one out as we don’t wanna draw too much attention to ourselves, and they’ll definitely see a gigantic dragon coming.”

 

Everyone nods in approval. “Alright let’s do this,” Trini says.

  
  
  


\-------

  
  


It’s late afternoon when they start prepping the ships for their mission. Well more like Kim, Trini, and Jason are doing all the heavy lifting while the rest laze about. Billy and Tommy are sitting side by side with a book in between them while Iroh sits on a log behind them. Once Kim is finished with her ship she plops down next to Tommy.

 

“Were you ever planning on helping?” Kim asks.

 

“Nope,” Tommy says while flipping the page, “Heavy duty is not my forte, Kimmy.”

 

“Sorry Kim,” Billy says.

 

“It’s alright Billy. You always do the packing up for us. You deserve a break,” Kim says before turning to Tommy. “You, however, have no excuse.”

 

Tommy shrugs while Trini comes up behind her. “She’s always been lazy,” Trini says. “The ships are ready. Are you guys good to go?”

 

“We can not leave,” Iroh says.

 

“What? Why not?” Trini says.

 

“I am missing my white lotus tile! We can’t go on this long trip without some pai sho,” he says.

 

Trini lets out a sigh. “Are you sure you aren’t sitting on it?”

 

“What? Why would you ever suggest such a thing,” Iroh gets off the log, waving his finger. “I have never in my life-”

 

A white lotus tile lays where he was sitting. “Oh,” he says and lets out a chuckle. “My mistake.”

 

Trini shakes her head fondly, “Alright let’s head out.” Everyone makes their way to the boats. Trini gets on the boat before Kim and flourishes her hand out towards Kim while bowing down.

 

“May I escort you to the mainland, princess?” Trini asks and when she looks up Kim can see she’s smiling. Kim laughs but takes the hand anyways. There is no way she’s going to turn down being able to hold Trini’s hand.

 

There isn’t much space on the boat but while Trini does the actual sailing things to get them moving, Kim sets up a small area for them to sleep. She has no idea what Trini is doing but Kim hears her grumble something like, “I wish we had a waterbender to make this go faster.” 

 

When they’re a little ways away from shore, Trini stops fussing around and looks out to see how the rest are doing. Iroh and Tommy’s boat is to the left of them. He seems to already be setting up a pai sho game. To the right of them, Billy waves at Trini with a smile but Jason looks uneasy. Thinking it wouldn’t be that big of a deal if Billy is happy, she turns her attention to Kim who is setting something up on back of the boat.

 

“What’s that for?” Trini asks.

 

Kim jumps, a bit startled. “I made a makeshift bed. You said this was gonna be about two hours, so I thought we could take turns napping.”

 

“Oh thanks,” Trini says. She isn’t sure what else to say so they both kinda stand there awkwardly until she speaks up again. “You can go first,” Trini says. 

 

“No, it’s okay you can go,” Kim says going to sit on the side of the boat.

 

Trini asks, “You don’t want to?”

 

“No, I probably won’t fall asleep anyways,” Kim says.

 

Trini raises an eyebrow. “Is my boat not up to your royal standards, princess?”

 

“Oh my god, I should have never told you who I am. Go to sleep,” she says with a roll of her eyes.

  
  


\-------

  
  
  


Trini wakes up to a dark sky and a clear view of the constellations. If it weren’t for the mission ahead, it would be peaceful. They’re lucky the skies are clear tonight, or else this journey would’ve been a lot more difficult. 

 

Slowly getting up from her comfortable sleep, she hears quiet snoring a couple feet away from her. Turns out Kim did end up falling asleep and in a very uncomfortable position as she leans on the side of the boat with her head lobbed forward. Trini grabs a pillow and lays it next to her so she can gently lead Kim onto it. 

 

The others are wide awake. Billy and Jason are practicing airbending. Iroh somehow has a cup of tea in his hand even though Trini is pretty sure they left the necessary materials for tea at home. Tommy excitedly waves at Trini and points in front of them. She squints in the general direction but all she sees is blue. Just as she’s about to turn back to Tommy she sees a green line on the horizon. They’re close.

 

Once the boats hit the shore, Trini figures it’s time to wake up sleeping beauty. Trini squats down to wake her up but is stopped by how peaceful Kim looks. The wind blows on the bandages slightly and Trini wonders what’s underneath them. 

 

Growing up as the daughter to that monster must’ve been terrible for her. Images of Trini’s parents flash through her mind but she pushes them away. It’s at this moment with the moon illuminating the broken girl that Trini decides she wants to stick around. Broken girls have to stick together.

 

Trini lightly shakes Kim’s shoulder and whispers, “Come on, princess. You have to wake up.”

 

Kim wakes up nicely, much to the surprise of Jason who is walking to their boat with Billy right behind him. She’s slightly confused until she catches up with her surroundings.

 

“I totally didn’t fall asleep when I said I wasn’t going to,” Kim says with a sheepish smile.

 

“Mhm, sure you didn’t,” Trini says offering her hand to Kim to help her up.

 

Jason almost looks insulted. “How come you didn’t burn her eyebrows off?”

 

“Jason keep your voice down,” Tommy whispers. Trini turns around to see Tommy and Iroh behind her. 

 

“Sorry,” he says as everyone gets closer together. “Alright, you guys remember the plan right? Me and Trini cause a distraction while you guys set the charges. Iroh will be waiting here by our getaway boats.”

 

Everyone nods along and are about to break away when Billy puts his hand in the middle. Trini and Tommy look at each other as Kimberly and Jason also remember to put their hands on top.  _ Just go with it _ , Kim mouths at the two so they obey. 

 

Billy has a huge smile on his face as he says, “Okay on the count of three we yell Team Avatar!”

 

“Oh my god,” Trini mumbles under her breath.

 

“No yelling,” Tommy says.

 

“Right sorry. On the count of three we... quietly yell Team Avatar,” he corrects. He counts down and they all whisper, “Team Avatar” except for Trini who finds the whole thing ridiculous. She’s already making her way down before everyone finishes wishing each other good luck so Jason has to jog a little to catch up with her.

 

After a moment of silence between them, Jason tries to strike up a conversation. “So,” he starts, not really sure what to say to fill up the awkwardness, “where are you from?”

 

“Earth Kingdom” she says. Trini doesn’t even look in his direction.

 

Jason rubs the back of his head as he says, “Well… I know that but-” 

 

“Then why did you ask?” Trini interrupts, a bite in her voice. Jason figures she doesn’t want to talk so he decides to talk about himself instead.

 

Jason coughs, “I’m from the fire nation capital. Me and Kim grew up together. I never really liked my father but I miss my mother and sister. Kim says she got them out of there with her friends but I still worry about them.”

 

“Why are you telling me all of this?” Trini stops walking causing Jason to stumble.

 

“Well if we’re gonna fight together, I thought it’d be nice if we knew each other a little first,” Jason says, “So we could, you know, trust each other.”

 

“Trust each other,” Trini seems to almost laugh as she continues walking. “Nice try but it takes me a long while before I trust anyone.”

 

“Even the avatar?”

 

“It’s not the avatar bit that bothers me. It’s the rich and elitist part,” Trini says. Jason’s not really sure how to comment on that but he doesn’t have much time to think as they reach their destination. 

 

They’re crouching behind trees for the time being. In front of them is a large clearing and then the storage house which is fortified with two towers. Fire nation soldiers mill about the towers but most of them are within the building behind the main door. The door makes up most of the wall as it’s used for getting vehicles inside.

 

Trini says, “We need to get the door open so we can see within the building. How are we going to cause a distraction?”

 

Jason doesn’t respond. He stands up and starts running to the towers as he screams at the top of his lungs. He sets the main watch towers on fire before retreating to the woods where Trini is still standing in absolute shock and her mouth hanging wide open.

 

“I guess that works,” she says as she prepares for the onslaught of soldiers heading in their direction. 

 

 

\-------

  
  


Behind the building are Tommy, Kim, and Billy with their eyes on the back entrance being guarded by two men. They all have packs with some bombs in them but they’re gonna have to restock a couple times.

 

“So um, how do we know when to go in,” Tommy asks.

 

They all look at each other and Kim shrugs. 

 

“Jason said that we would know,” Billy says.

 

In the distance they hear Jason’s high pitched screams. 

 

Kim laughs, “Guess that’s our cue.”

 

Kim leaps over the log they were hiding behind and blasts the two guards at the door. Billy and Tommy rush to help her but the guards are already groaning yards away when they reach her. They sneak inside to find that the storage facility is basically a hanger with armored tanks with some crates scattered throughout.

 

“It’d probably be better if we split up. This place is huge,” Tommy whispers.

 

“ No that’s a terrible idea, what if one of us gets in trouble,” Billy says.

 

Jason’s screams can still be heard from outside.

 

“Well we’re running on a timer here and this place is huge so it’s really our only option,” Kim says.

 

Billy doesn’t seem to like the plan but agrees anyways, “Alright you guys take the right and left, I’ll go down the middle.”

  
  


\-------

  
  


Back outside, Jason and Trini are fending off the fire nation with ease. Jason notices that it’s a bit too easy. They’re supposed to be the distraction but it doesn’t seem that many soldiers are leaving the compound.

 

“I don’t think our distraction is working,” Jason says as he dodges another strike. Him and Trini are being circled by some soldiers.

 

“Guess fire nation people aren’t as dumb as they seem,” Trini smirks.

 

Jason and a random soldier both yell, “Hey!”

 

His life flashes before his eyes as Trini sends a rock flying past Jason’s head to connect with the other offended firebender’s face. Jason mumbles his thanks after recovering from his shock.

 

“We’re not posing a big enough threat,” she says.

 

“What? I’m a big threat,” Jason says, slightly offended as he redirects a firestrike.

 

Trini says, “We’re hiding out in the forest and not attacking them head on. They know something’s up.”

 

“Then we should advance forward into the clearing,” he says.

 

He motions for Trini to follow him and the two head out in the open space. As soon as they’re in the middle, they hear the main opening of the facility open as soldiers rush out. Trini feels overwhelmed in a matter of seconds but Jason seems to be in his element as the rush of a fight courses through his veins.

 

The open door allows Jason to spot Billy near the entrance. Billy seems to see him as he does an excited wave. Jason mouths, “Time?” hoping Billy understands which he does and puts up 8 fingers which Jason assumes is 8 minutes. They just have to keep up their front for eight more minutes. No big deal.

 

As soon as Billy is done interacting with Jason he runs for the back entrance to get his refill of bombs. Halfway through he’s yanked behind some crates as someone covers his mouth. He’s turned around very forcefully and Billy is a little annoyed at the amount of contact. Just as he’s about to speak he realizes it’s Tommy.

 

“Oh hi Tommy,” he says a little shocked.

 

“Sorry Billy,” she whispers letting go of him, “but keep your voice down. There’s six guards coming this way.”

 

“Oh,” Billy says. He thinks he’s whispering but he’s really not. “We can take them, maybe with a little distraction.”

 

They hear a chirp. When they turn to the right they’re greeted by Junior landing on a crate and looking at the two of them expectantly. Billy and Tommy look at each other and shrug. There doesn’t seem to be any other options.

 

Junior seems very content as Billy picks her up. He leans out from behind the crates and points at the guards approaching. Making sure that the hawk is looking, Billy whispers, “Attack!” Junior just hops and turns around to face Billy, not really getting the message.

 

After a sigh he mumbles, “I’m sorry Junior.” He holds the messenger hawk like a ball and chucks Junior in the general direction of the soldiers.

 

Chirps of betrayal bounce off the warehouse walls, but as soon as Junior gets control of her trajectory she aims for an unsuspecting guard and claws at his face. Tommy comes in from the right, driving her sword into the back of one soldier. In one fluid motion she pulls her sword out and cuts down another enemy. Billy takes care of the other three just as easily.

 

As soon as the last guard falls, Junior lands on Billy’s shoulder. He gives her a pat on the had and with a big smile he tells her, “Good job!” 

 

“Hey Billy,” Tommy says as she looks inside an open crate, “What’s this?”

  
  
  


\-------

  
  
  


Outside Jason is very overwhelmed. He  doesn’t think he and Trini can take all of these soldiers by themselves. In the forest they had the cover of the trees to hide but out here they’re outnumbered. A fire strike scorches Trini’s clothes, nearly her touching skin. Jason starts to worry. He awkwardly subdues the two fire nation soldiers attacking him as he keeps checking to see how Trini is doing. 

 

Jason’s heart drops when he looks at the facility.

 

Kneeling on the ground is Kim with her hands on the back of her head as a several soldiers surround her. He doesn’t know where the others are but Kim was supposed to light the bombs. Jason hears the yell before he sees the damage. Trini crumples to the ground. More soldiers pour out of the building. He can’t see how hurt Trini is. The soldiers surrounding Kim get closer.

 

A white haze creeps up from the corner of Jason’s vision. He sees the ground crumble beneath him and then there is nothing.

 

A large gust of wind surrounds the avatar, pushing Trini to the side. When she looks up from the ground she sees Jason suspended by a whirl of air, similar to a tornado, as large rocks surround him. His eyes glow white as he brings his hand up and clenches it into a fist. Inside the facility, Trini sees a dome of earth surround Kim to protect her from the soldiers.

 

_ He can earthbend? _

 

There’s a sharp pain on her side as Trini gets up but she clenches her teeth and gets ready to fight the soldier approaching her. Just as she’s about to strike, he’s impaled by an earth spike rising underneath him. She looks up at Jason and finds him with his eyes still white. He pulls his hands in and juts them outward. Dozens of earth spikes rise from the ground. They destroy the towers and obliterate all the soldiers left.

 

Jason’s slowly starts descending. Trini can tell he’s exhausted as his frame sways slightly up above, so she positions herself to catch him. His eyes turn back to normal and he falls from the sky into Trini’s arms. Jason is completely passed out so she carefully lays him on the ground and walks over to Kim to earthbend her out of the dome.

 

“Thanks for the dome,” Kim says as Trini helps her up. As soon as Kim sees the carnage outside she goes, “Holy shit! You did all that?”

 

“Wasn’t me,” she says bringing her hands up, “Jason did some weird avatar magic. We have to get out of here. Whatever that was, was really cool but it probably alerted the camps nearby. Where are the rest?”

 

“Over here!”  Billy and Tommy jog over to them.

 

Kim points to the scroll Billy is holding, “What’s that?”

 

Billy says, “I’ll explain later. Where’s Jason?”

 

Trini points over to the lump of a person on the ground, and they rush over. Tommy tries picking him up on her own but Jason is heavy as hell so Trini grabs his legs while Tommy holds up his upper body.

 

“As soon as I see you’re far enough, I’ll light the bombs and meet up with you guys,” Kim says walking away. She pulls a jar of blasting jelly out of her bag and makes a trail back outside so that she has enough time to run. By the time she’s done, Kim doesn’t see where the others are so she figures they’re far away enough. She starts a small blaze on her pointer finger, lights the trail, and runs for her life in the direction of the boats.

 

Halfway to the team, the building explodes causing the ground to shake underneath her. Turning around, Kim sees a large smoke cloud in place of where the building used to be.

 

“Take that Rita,” she says to herself.

 

The rest of team avatar are almost near the boats when Kim joins them.

 

“What happened to the boy?” Iroh asks. “Maybe I should’ve gone with you.”

 

“He’s okay. Just passed out, but he’s still breathing,” Billy says.

 

Tommy and Trini kneel down to put Jason in one of the boats, but when Trini tries to stand up she doubles over in pain. Kim rushes over to check if she’s okay. Tommy, with zero care for personal boundaries, unfastens Trini’s belt and pulls her shirt up exposing the burn on the side of Trini’s stomach.

 

“Trini you idiot,” Tommy says,  “Why didn’t you say anything and why the hell did you carry Jason?”

 

“We were kind of running away and who else is supposed to carry him? Lanky boy over here,” Trini says nudging her head in the direction of Billy. “No offense, Billy.”

 

“None taken,” he says with a shrug. “Airbenders don’t really need muscle.”

 

Tommy lets out a groan of frustration and goes to get medical supplies at the back of the boat. She comes back with bandages and other medical supplies.

 

“I can take care of her while we’re sailing,” Kim speaks up. “I have my fair share of experiences with burns.” 

 

Tommy mumbles, “Fair enough. I’ll put these on your boat.”

 

She dumps the supplies onto it and follows Iroh to their boat. They’re a lot emptier now that all the bombs have been used. Kim puts her arms out towards Trini and raises her eyebrows as if asking permission to help her. Trini nods so Kim puts an arm around her as she gets up and helps her onto their boat.

 

Trini winces when Kim puts her down so Kim says, “I’m sorry.” 

 

“It’s fine,” Trini mumbles as she rests her head on the side of the boat.

 

After they’re sailing smoothly on the water, Kim grabs a soaked rag and starts cleaning Trini’s burn. Trini is staring at her. Kim tries to focus on the wound and not how close they are to each other. Occasionally Trini grunts when she applies too much pressure and Kim whispers an apology every time.

 

As Kim applies the bandages is when she notices the old bruises. She knows they aren’t from the recent fight since they only went up against firebenders. You only get bruises like those from punches or earthbending.

 

Kim looks up at Trini for the first time and asks, “Why do you have bruises?”

 

Trini takes a moment to respond, “I didn’t always have Tommy by my side.”

 

Kim figures she doesn’t want to talk about it and goes back to finishing her bandaging.

 

“That’s the best I can do for now,” Kim says looking anywhere but at Trini until she puts her shirt back down, “but you should probably go to a healer.”

 

Trini’s small smile goes unnoticed by Kim but she does hear Trini say, “Thanks Kim.”

  
  


\-------

  
  


On the other ship, Billy is frantically pacing back and forth. He goes to put a rag on Jason’s head and he knows that isn’t going to do anything but what else is he supposed to do? Just sit there? Absolutely not. He goes back to pacing and starts mumbling reassuring things to himself.

 

Minutes later, Billy hears a mumbled, “Billy?”  Billy is so relieved that he lets out a sigh that he didn’t even know he was holding. He rushes over to Jason as he gets up, grabbing the rag from his head.

 

Jason looks like he just woke up. His voice still groggy as he asks, “What happened?”

 

“Heard you did some really cool earthbending,” Billy says sitting in front of him. “I didn’t even know you could do that. I mean, you sucked at airbending just weeks ago. No offense! You’ve really improved.”

 

Jason laughs, “It’s my avatar state. Shyu kind of mentioned it during training. My eyes get all white and glowy, and I’m at my most powerful… I don’t know, he’s not the best with words. The last thing I remember is my vision going white. ”

 

“Oh that’s very useful,” Billy says. “Can you do that every time we’re in battle?”

 

Jason scoffs, “I don’t even know how to earthbend or waterbend, do you think I know how to call onto the avatar state at will?”

 

“Fair enough, but you probably should focus on that. We should meet back up with Shyu when we go to the air temple,” Billy says. 

 

“Alright,” Jason says before closing his eyes and laying down. He opens an eye to look at Billy. “You just want more sweet buns don’t you?”

 

“What!” Billy’s voice cracks. “No?”

  
  


\-------

  
  
  


They’ve just finished packing Alpha for their trip, when they start heading inside Trini’s hideout where Tommy, Trini, and Iroh are waiting for them to say their goodbyes. Billy’s the first to walk through the already opened door, followed by the other two. He seems to be vibrating with excitement and Jason has a knowing smirk on his face.

 

Trini’s busying herself with a map, avoiding eye contact. Tommie looks a bit sad but greets them with a smile anyways. Iroh is the first one to approach them.

 

“I feel like congratulations are in order,” he says handing them tea. “Congrats on your successful mission, avatar.”

 

“Thank you Iroh,” Jason says accepting his tea.

 

Billy almost chugs his tea before starting to jump up and down.

 

He asks, “Can I be the one to tell them?”

 

“Sure Billy,” Jason says, not being able to suppress his grin.

 

After composing himself slightly Billy clears his throat, “Trini. Tommy.”

 

Trini finally looks up from her map at the call of her name.

 

Billy continues, “ Jason, Kimberly, and I would like to formally invite you join Team Avatar.”

 

Tommy seems to brighten up slightly at the comment but Trini snorts.

 

“Team Avatar?” Trini asks.

 

“Billy you didn’t have to sound so official,” Jason says.

 

“Right sorry,” he says, “I just wanted it to sound cool... like we’re a band of heroes!”

 

Kim moves in front of the boys, “We think you guys were a nice addition to the team, and you’re both concerned with helping out the earth kingdom. What a better way to help the earth kingdom then aiding the avatar in defeating Rita?”

 

“I’m in,” Tommy says barely letting Kim finish. Billy juts his fist out for a fistbump with Tommy. He tries to do the same to Trini but she only looks at his extended arm.

 

Trini seems very hesitant and asks, “Can I think about it for a moment?”

 

“Yeah sure. We’ll be outside,” Kim says.

 

Jason asks, “We will?”

 

Kim starts pushing the boys out the door to give Trini some space. Tommy excuses herself to another room to collect her things, leaving Trini alone with Iroh.

 

“You should join them,” he says putting a hand on her shoulder. The old man knows her too well to not know what she’s thinking.

 

“I don’t want to get close to anyone else,” Trini almost whispers.

 

“You got very close to Tommy,” Iroh says.

 

“Tommy is… persistent,” Trini says rising a chuckle out of Iroh.

 

“You can’t be afraid of the past repeating itself,” Iroh says. “Life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not. It’s better to make the best of it.”

 

Trini stirs on the words for a moment. She doesn’t fully believe him. Not yet. But she is willing to give the words a try.

 

She looks up, “Are you going to be alright without me old man?”

 

Iroh lets out a fully belly chuckle this time as he removes his hand from Trini’s shoulder. “I’ll be alright,” he says. “A pretty, young girl like you shouldn’t be stuck in this hideout with me.”

 

Trini hugs Iroh which leaves him stunned for a moment before he hugs her back. As they seperate, Tommy enters the room. Trini gives her a nod and they walk outside to meet the others. They look at Trini expectantly. 

 

“I’m in too,” she says.

 

Billy does a series of little claps, “Welcome to Team Avatar!”

 

“I am not saying that,” Trini says but gets pulled into a group hug by Tommy. They all laugh at Trini’s attempts at escape.

 

When they seperate Billy smiles at Trini, “You’re with us now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello friends! It's been a while, I now have a new found drive to finish this fic. Also I'm sorry to the Zack fans... he's coming soon... I swear.


End file.
